REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL. 75 



American Scientific Congress in these the imposing moments of its inaug- 

 uration, these five minutes, gentlemen, are until now, in the dial of my 

 public life, the fullest in honor and the most deeply felt. 



Join me then, gentlemen, in saluting, as I in the name of EcUador 

 salute in the person of the distinguished ambassador of Chile who pre- 

 sides over us, the whole American continent here reunited under the 

 shelter of peace and liberty for the high purposes of the Scientific Con- 

 gress. 



In truth, gentlemen, but a few months ago we were likewise assembled 

 in the Hall of the Americas around our own hearthstone, as may be said, 

 but then we deplored the absence of our sister Mexico, who could not 

 withdraw her attention while the sovereignty of her institutions remain 

 unvindicated by her blood and her arms. To-day she is here, and worthily 

 represented, as are represented the strength and the power of the thirteen 

 States that fought for the independence of this nation, the thirteen granite 

 columns that sustain this beautiful edifice which affords us generous 

 shelter. 



On that occasion to which I am referring, as Mr. McAdoo, the expert 

 Secretary of the Treasury will recall, the proposals of the assembly were 

 confined within the limit of economics. To-day the sciences, the arts, 

 the industries, in their infinite manifestations and progress are to occupy 

 the minds and be subjects of study for the thinkers and wise men of this 

 congress. 



Interest, or be it material commerce, has its selfish purposes, and even 

 when it is a powerful factor in the enlightenment and progress of peoples it 

 sometimes gives rise to profound resentments and world-wide cataclysms. 

 Interest does not bind together the nations; at times it separates them. 

 This, gentlemen, is not my thought; it belongs to the distinguished 

 President Wilson, for he has said of science and conscience, "It is sym- 

 pathy, mutual understanding, union in spirit which we must seek." 



I believe, gentlemen, that there is no link stronger than science. The 

 bonds of the peoples who communicate their ideas, their sentiments, their 

 discoveries, and which unify their laws, their uses, and their customs, are 

 indestructible chains, immortal as the spirit which permeates them. 



Let us labor for union. This eventual period at which we have ar- 

 rived is propitious for an alliance of the Americas, but an alliance for 

 peace and by peace; for war's oracle must not sound within the orbit 

 of this continent, which to-day more than ever needs the powerful help 

 of science and the concourse of its wise ones, that the gifts of a lavish 

 nature may be employed for the comfort of all humanity. Happily we 

 have no enemy, nor are we busy with the idea of balance of power 



