58 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL. 



and by being trusted by them, by cooperation and helpfulness, by a dig- 

 nified regard for the rights of all, and by living our national lives in 

 harmony and good will. 



Across the thousands of miles of the Atlantic we see Europe convulsed 

 with the most terrible conflict which this world has ever witnessed; we 

 see the manhood of these great nations shattered, their homes ruined, 

 their productive energies devoted to the one purpose of destroying their 

 fellow men. When we contemplate the untold misery which these once 

 happy people are enduring and the heritage which they are transmitting 

 to succeeding generations, we can not but contrast a continent at war 

 and a continent at peace. The spectacle teaches a lesson we can not 

 ignore. 



If we seek the dominant ideas in world politics since we became inde- 

 pendent nations, we will find that we won our liberties when individual- 

 ism absorbed men's thoughts and inspired their deeds. This idea was 

 gradually supplanted by that of nationalism, which found expression in 

 the ambitions of conquest and the greed for territory so manifest in the 

 nineteenth century. Following the impulse of nationalism the idea of 

 internationalism began to develop. It appeared to be an increasing 

 influence throughout the civiUzed world, when the present war of Em- 

 pires, that great manifestation of nationalism, stayed its progress in 

 Europe and brought discouragement to those who had hoped that the 

 new idea would usher in an era of universal peace and justice. 



While we are not actual participants in the momentous struggle which 

 is shattering the ideals toward which civilization was moving and is 

 breaking down those principles on which internationalism is founded, 

 we stand as anxious spectators of this most terrible example of nation- 

 alism. Let us hope that it is the final outburst of the cardinal evils of 

 that idea which has for nearly a century spread its baleful influence over 

 the world. 



Pan Americanism is an expression of the idea of internationalism. 

 America has become the guardian of that idea, which will in the end rule 

 the world. Pan Americanism is the most advanced as well as the most 

 practical form of that idea. It has been made possible because of our 

 geographical isolation, of our similar political institutions, and of our 

 common conception of human rights. Since the European war began 

 other factors have strengthened this natural bond and given impulse to 

 the movement. Never before have our people so fully realized the sig- 

 nificance of the words, "Peace" and "Fraternity." Never have the 

 need and benefit of international cooperation in every form of human 

 activity been so evident as they are to-day. 



