Latin America and the United States / Addresses by Elihu Root

by Elihu Root

This situation is accentuated by the fact that we are turning our attention to the south and engaging there in the great enterprise of constructing the Panama Canal. No one can tell what effect that will have upon the commerce of the world, but we do know that there never has been in history a case of a great change in the trade routes of the world which has not powerfully affected the rise and fall of nations, the development of commerce, and the development of civilization.

We, by the expenditure of a part of our recently acquired capital, are about to open a new trade route that will bring our Atlantic and Gulf ports into immediate, close intercourse with all the Pacific coasts of South and Central America, and which will bring our Pacific ports into immediate and close relation with all the countries about the Caribbean Sea and the eastern coast of South America. The combination of political sentiment which has long allied us with the Latin American countries, the opportunity which comes from their change of conditions and our increase of capital, and the effects that must necessarily follow the opening of the great trade route of the Panama Canal, all point to the development of American enterprise and American trade to the south.

Now, in considering that view of the future there are certain practical considerations that necessarily arise. How are we to adapt ourselves to this new condition? How are we to utilize this opportunity? One subject naturally presents itself, and that is the increase of means of communication through which our intercourse and our trade may be carried on. And that may be in two ways: one by the promotion of the railroad, long ago projected, and in constant course of development—the road that we speak of as the Pan American road. When we speak of the Pan American Railroad we are speaking of something of the future, and which exists today only in a great number of links, each of which has its separate name. They are being built, and being built with great rapidity. In Mexico, in Guatemala, in Bolivia, in Peru, in the Argentine, in other countries pieces of road are being built—many of them by American capital and American enterprise; some of them by capital coming from other countries—promoted by the strong desire of the people of these Latin American countries to break out from their isolation and to be brought into closer contact with the rest of the world. Those pieces are being built until now, when the work actually under contract is completed, there will be less than 4,000 miles remaining to be built to make a complete railroad which will unite the city of Washington with the city of Buenos Ayres in the Argentine.

One of the objects of the Rio conference last summer was to promote and further the interest of all American countries in the building of this road, and I am glad to believe that the action taken by that conference has had that effect. The line now running to the south is almost through Mexico—has almost reached the Guatemala line; and lines are being built in Guatemala to connect with that; and within the life of men now sitting in this room it will be possible for passengers and merchandise to travel by rail practically the entire length of both the North and South American continents.

The other method of communication is by steamships. We are lamentably deficient in that. A great many fine, swift, commodious lines of steamships run between the South American ports and Europe and very few and comparatively poor ships run between those ports and the ports of the United States. No American line runs south of the Caribbean Sea. Our mails are slow and uncertain. It is a matter of hardship for a passenger to go directly between the great South American ports and the great North American ports, while the mails run swiftly and certainly to and from Europe, and it is a pleasure for a passenger to go between one of those ports and the European ports. The Postmaster-General reports that the best way for him to get the despatches from my Department to our ministers in South America with certainty and swiftness is to send them to Europe and have them sent from there to South America. That condition of things ought not to continue if we can prevent it.

One great reason why it exists is, that American shipping is driven off the seas by two great obstacles interposed in its way by legislation. One is the legislation of foreign countries which has subsidized foreign shipping; the other is the legislation of our own country which by the protective tariff has raised the standard of living of all Americans—a most beneficent result—has raised the standard of living of all Americans so that American ships paying and feeding their officers and men according to the American standard cannot compete on even terms with foreign ships, the cost of whose officers and men is under the foreign standard.

If our Government will equalize these artificial disadvantages under which our vessels labor and will do for them enough to make up to them the disadvantage caused by raising the standard of living of the men they employ and to make up to them the disadvantage, coming from the fact that their foreign competitors are subsidized by foreign governments for the purpose of promoting foreign trade against American trade, we will have an American merchant marine and American ships to carry passengers and freight and mails between South and North American ports. A bill to provide that is pending in Congress now. It has passed the Senate. It is in the Committee of the House. I hope that all of you who agree with me in believing that our Government ought to be fair to the American merchant marine will say so out loud; say so to your neighbors; say so in such a way that American public opinion will realize that that kind of fair treatment is not a matter of the lobbyist, but is a matter of broad, American public policy.

There is one other subject—very important as a part of this general outlook and forecast of American policy looking towards the south. That is our special relation towards the countries, the smaller countries about the Caribbean, and particularly the West Indian countries, the islands that lie directly on the route between our ports and the Panama Canal. Some of them have had a pretty hard time. The conditions of their lives have been such that it has been difficult for them to maintain stable and orderly governments. They have been cursed, some of them, by frequent revolution. Poor Cuba, with her wonderful climate and richness of soil, has suffered. We have done the best we could to help her, and we mean to go on doing the best we can to help her.

I think the key of our attitude towards these countries can be put in three sentences:

First. We do not want to take them for ourselves.