Latin America and the United States / Addresses by Elihu Root

by Elihu Root

Many noble and beautiful public buildings record the achievements and illustrate the impulses of modern civilization. Temples of religion, of patriotism, of learning, of art, of justice, abound; but this structure will stand alone, the first of its kind—a temple dedicated to international friendship. It will be devoted to the diffusion of that international knowledge which dispels national prejudice and liberalizes national judgment. Here will be fostered the growth of that sympathy born of similarity in good impulses and noble purposes, which draws men of different races and countries together into a community of nations, and counteracts the tendency of selfish instincts to array nations against each other as enemies. From this source shall spring mutual helpfulness between all the American republics, so that the best knowledge and experience and courage and hope of every republic shall lend moral power to sustain and strengthen every other in its struggle to work out its problems and to advance the standard of liberty and peace with justice within itself, and so that no people in all these continents, however oppressed and discouraged, however impoverished and torn by disorder, shall fail to feel that they are not alone in the world, or shall fail to see that for them a better day may dawn, as for others the sun has already arisen.

It is too much to expect that there will not be controversies between American nations to whose desire for harmony we now bear witness; but to every controversy will apply the truth that there are no international controversies so serious that they cannot be settled peaceably if both parties really desire peaceable settlement, while there are few causes of dispute so trifling that they cannot be made the occasion of war if either party really desires war. The matters in dispute between nations are nothing; the spirit which deals with them is everything.

The graceful courtesy of the twenty republics who have agreed upon the capital of the United States for the home of this International Union, the deep appreciation of that courtesy shown by the American Government and this representative American citizen, and the work to be done within the walls that are to rise on this site, cannot fail to be powerful influences towards the creation of a spirit that will solve all disputed questions of the future and preserve the peace of the Western World.

May the structure now begun stand for many generations to come as the visible evidence of mutual respect, esteem, appreciation, and kindly feeling between the peoples of all the republics; may pleasant memories of hospitality and friendship gather about it, and may all the Americas come to feel that for them this place is home, for it is theirs, the product of a common effort and the instrument of a common purpose.

ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE BUILDING OF THE
PAN AMERICAN UNION, WASHINGTON, D. C.
APRIL 26, 1910

I am sure that this beautiful building must produce a lively sense of grateful appreciation in all who care for the growth of friendship among Americans; to Mr. Carnegie, not merely for his generous gift but for the large sympathy and far vision that prompted it; and to the associate architects, Mr. Albert Kelsey and Mr. Paul Cret, who, not content with making this structure express their sense of artistic form and proportion, have entered with the devotion and self-absorption of true art into the spirit of the design for which their bricks and marble are to stand. They have brought into happy companionship architectural suggestions of the North and of the South; and have wrought into construction and ornament in a hundred ways the art, the symbolism, the traditions, and the history of all the American republics; and they have made the building a true expression of Pan Americanism, of open mind and open heart for all that is true and noble and worthy of respect from whatever race or religion or language or custom in the western continents.

Nor should we forget the fine enthusiasm and understanding with which Mr. Borglum and Mr. Conti and Mrs. Farnham and Mrs. Whitney have brought sculpture to aid the architects' expression; nor the honest and faithful work of Mr. Norcross, the builder; nor the kind help of Mr. William Smith, of the Botanical Garden, who has filled the patio with tropical plants rare and strange to northern eyes, but familiar friends to the Latin American; nor the energy and unwearying labors of Mr. Barrett, the director of the bureau.

The active interest of President Taft and Secretary Knox is evidence that the policy of Pan American friendship, re-inaugurated by the sympathetic genius of Secretary Blaine, is continuous and permanent in the United States; and the harmony in which the members of the governing board have worked to this end is a good omen for the future.

This building is to be, in its most manifest utilitarian service, a convenient instrument for association and growth of mutual knowledge among the people of the different republics. The library maintained here, the books and journals accessible here, the useful and interesting publications of the bureau, the enormous correspondence carried on with seekers for knowledge about American countries, the opportunities now afforded for further growth in all these activities, justify the pains and the expense.

The building is more important, however, as the symbol, the ever-present reminder, the perpetual assertion, of unity, of common interest and purpose and hope among all the republics. This building is a confession of faith, a covenant of fraternal duty, a declaration of allegiance to an ideal. The members of The Hague conference of 1907 described the conference in the preamble of its great arbitration convention as: