Let us drink, ladies and gentlemen, to the health of his excellency, Mr. Root, his distinguished wife, and his "simpatica" daughter, and wishing for all of them all kinds of happiness, let us prove that we have shaken their hands in the spirit that sons of Jalisco always shake hands—our heart is our hand.
Mr. Root's Reply
I thank you very heartily for your kind words, for your flattering description of myself, and for the spirit of friendship for my country which you exhibit. I am highly appreciative of all the hospitality, the warm welcome, and the graceful and most agreeable entertainment which you and your people of Guadalajara and of the state of Jalisco have given to my family and to myself.
I think it is perhaps fitting that I should make the last extended visit of all I have been making in Mexico, to the city of Guadalajara. The most striking feature of Mexican life to a stranger is that rare combination of history and progress which one finds. The two eras of history, the Spanish, and before that the Indian civilization, which has to so great an extent passed away, and beside that the modern development, the spirit of modern enterprise, the active progress of mining and agriculture and manufactures, the stimulus of sound finance, and the general determination of the people to take rank with the great productive nations of the earth,—nowhere have I found that combination more marked and distinct than I find it here in Guadalajara. As I said to you a short time ago, your excellency, the things that impressed me most on entering this city were, first, that it was clean; secondly, that there were many fine-looking people; thirdly, that it was cheerful; and, fourthly, that it had many beautiful buildings. I can add to that a fifth, that it is bright with the rainbow of hope for the fruits of its many enterprises.
This may be the last time I rise to speak to any audience in Mexico before my departure for my own country, and there are two things that I wish to say; one is, that nothing could have been more generous, more tactful, and more grateful to us than the hospitality and friendship which my family and I have received during the entire time since we crossed the border at Laredo. We are grateful for it, we are deeply appreciative of it. The other thing that I wish to say is that I have all the time since I came to Mexico been thinking about the question of the permanence of your new prosperity. I go back to my home encouraged and cheered by having found, as I believe, evidence, substantial evidence, that the new prosperity of Mexico is not evanescent and temporary, but is permanent. I do not believe that Mexico will ever again return to the disorder of the condition which characterized the first sixty years of her independence. I believe that during this long period of peace and order which has been secured for your people by your great, wise, strong President Díaz, there has grown up a new spirit among Mexicans and a new appreciation of individual duty to civilization in the maintenance of peace and order.
So I go back, not only charmed with the beauty of your country, not only delighted with the opportunity to see the wonderful historic monuments you possess, not only delighted with the hospitality of your homes and charmed with the character of your people, but I go back with the feeling that the Mexican people have joined forever the ranks of the great, orderly, self-controlled, self-governing republics of the world.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] This address was answered in appropriate terms by General Rincón Gallardo as the representative of President Díaz, and among other things he congratulated himself on the fact that the Mexican Committee had been granted the pleasing privilege of continuing to San Antonio in order to give there a welcome to the distinguished visitors. Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel García Cuellar also made an address. Neither of these addresses were preserved.
[6] Yale lectures on the Responsibilities of Citizenship, 1907. See also: Addresses on Government and Citizenship, by Elihu Root; pp. 3-76. Harvard University Press, 1916.