ON JANUARY 27, 1943, the fiftieth anniversary of the death of James G. Blaine, it is fitting to pay tribute to the memory of the leader in the permanent international organization of the American republics. In so doing we are mindful too of the heroes of independence who by word and deed preached the close cooperation of the young American nations and imbued succeeding generations as well as their contemporaries with their ideals.

By a felicitous turn of circumstance Blaine, who as Secretary of State had strongly urged upon Presidents Garfield and Arthur the convocation of an interAmerican conference, was again holding that office under President Harrison when the assembly finally convened. The invitation issued in 1881 during Blaine's first incumbency said in part: ". . . the President extends to all the independent countries of North and South America an earnest invitation to participate in a general congress. . for the purpose of con

sidering and discussing the methods of preventing war between the nations of America." This invitation was recalled for a combination of reasons, but another was sent in 1888, during Cleveland's first administration. By act of Congress the agenda included not only arbitration but also various topics of a financial and economic nature.

"Your presence here is no ordinary event. It signifies much to the people of all America today. It may signify far more in the days to come." These sentences were among the first words of welcome spoken by Blaine to the delegates to the First International Conference of American States meeting at Washington on October 2, 1889. Long before 1943 inter-American solidarity had amply justified this prophecy.

When the Conference closed in April 1890 the "International Union of American Republics" had been formed. Known now as the Pan American Union, it acts

as the permanent organ of the International Conferences of American States, giving effect to the conclusions of the Conferences, preparing programs and regulations, and serving as a center for the promotion of peace, commerce and friendship among its twenty-one member countries.

have

From that First Conference stemmed not only seven others in the same series, but more than two hundred special or technical congresses bearing on many of the common problems confronting the American nations. Chief among the questions whose solution has been sought in a spirit of constructive cooperation has been the maintenance of peace among these countries. By treaties and conventions, machinery has been gradually perfected for the pacific settlement of any controversies that might arise. Now in a world at war the Americas present the heartening picture of a continent in which all countries are at peace with their neighbors, the only compulsion to their way of life being their Own will to peace

and the force of inter-American opinion

Many changes have taken place since the First Conference met. The 120,000,000 inhabitants of the American republics have more than doubled in number. The mears of communication that Blaine sought to foster have been augmented by the automobile, the airplane, the telephone. the radio. But the beliefs that Blain enumerated as held by all citizens of the Americas remain fundamentals of interAmerican doctrine; they have been offcially reaffirmed many times since, as i the Declaration of Lima. "Like situa tions beget like sympathies and impose like duties" was the premise on which he based them. A fresh and striking proof of the validity of this premise has been offered by the action of the three Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics held because of the present world conflict, meeting provided for in case of emergency by a resolution of the Eighth International Conference of American States.

GENTLEMEN OF THE INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCE:

Speaking for the Government of the United States, I bid you welcome to this capital. Speaking for the people of the United States, I bid you welcome to every section and to every State of the Union. You come in response to an invitation extended by the President on the special authorization of Congress. Your presence here is no ordinary event. It signifies much to the people of all America today. It may signify far more in the days to come. No conference of nations has ever assembled to consider the welfare of territorial possessions so vast and to contemplate the possibilities of a future so great and so inspiring. Those now sitting within these walls are empowered to speak for nations whose borders are on both the great oceans, whose northern limits are touched by the Arctic waters for a

thousand miles beyond the Straits of Behring | and whose southern extension furnishes human] habitations farther below the equator than is elsewhere possible on the globe.

The aggregate territorial extent of the nations here represented falls but little short of 12,000,000 of square miles-more than three times the area of all Europe, and but little less than one-fourth part of the globe; while in respect to the power d producing the articles which are essential to human life and those which minister to life's luxury, they constitute even a larger proportion of the entire world. These great possessions today have an aggregate population approaching 120,000,000, but if peopled as densely as the average of Europe, the total number would exceed 1,000,000,000. While considerations of this character must inspire Americans, both South and North, with the liveliest anticipations