Yet, even juridic equality, great though it is as a buttress for states, was not enough. There remained to be strengthened the bond of friendship, of understanding, and of fair dealing-the bond of good-neighborship.

First we became free; then we acknowledged ourselves equal; then we united in common friendship.

As the present Conference is meeting we are all faced with a critical world situation. Economic nationalism is making it more and more difficult for people in every country of the world decently to support themselves and their families; social stability is being threatened throughout the world; treaty obligations and international law are being flagrantly disregarded; the resort to persecution, force, and violence are threatening the peoples of the world with the destruction and horrors of armed conflict. We see doctrines of enmity and hatred disseminated through insidious and subversive propaganda. We know that these influences and dangers still haunt the possible

tomorrow. It is against this background that we must project and measure our accomplishments here in Lima, in particular the economic declaration against unreasonable trade barriers; the declaration of solidarity and unity; and the program of principles which is the basis of peace and cooperation among all nations.

The world situation today gives too much evidence of economic aggression and of the use of economic measures as the instruments of political policy. We have reaffirmed our purpose to guide our commercial relationships by the principle of equal treatment and by the reduction of obstacles to trade, in order to facilitate and expand the exchange of goods-principles to which we should like to give universal application.

In our Conference we have demonstrated our unshakable determination to respect the integrity of individuals and of states, to uphold the sanctity of the pledged word, and to make needed changes through the orderly process of consultation in a spirit of mutual accommodation.

The maintenance of peace on the American Continents and throughout the world is an absorbing subject of interest to any inter-American conference. The deliberations and declarations of this Conference prove that the influence of the American peoples is being thrown into the struggle on the side of international peace, justice, and fair dealing, and that our nations stand for measures which have the welfare of peoples and not the interest of dominant governing groups for their objectives.

Let us not minimize the true value of the accomplishments of this Conference. The advance made is broad and constructive. Our deliberations have added to our common continental faith, new substantive principles, and new procedure of consultation.

These deliberations took form in the declaration in this Conference of the principles of the solidarity of America, the Declaration of Lima. Closely associated with it are two vigorous resolutions, one offering sweeping condemnation of racial and religious bigotry and intolerance

everywhere; the other condemning in this hemisphere the collective political activity of groups of aliens.

The conception of solidarity was first brought into concrete existence in this hemisphere in the Anti-war Pact of 1933, a conception great in its possibilities but still undefined. This pact recognized that there were common interests and that the unity of the continent was parallel. At the Buenos Aires Conference of 1936 the method of consultation was adopted through which solidarity might be expressed.

Today we take a further step. We have spent long and profitable days in intimate exchange of views. We have discussed at length the policies and purposes that animate our governments. We have come to know each other's heart and mind. Out of these exchanges has come this declaration, this common formulation of our common policy. We have each and every one of us bent somewhat in form and scope to the will, the judgment, and the desire of the rest of us; but our broad purpose has

united us. We have sacrificed no fundamentals. This declaration comes in that deep sense from the whole of us.

It can be accurately stated that the declaration which the Conference approves today, while not dramatized or amplified as to details, contains the substance of the various other proposals advanced by a number of us during the Conference.

Its formulation illustrates the use and meaning of the Conference method. We have proven our ability to use this method successfully and to find thereby the phrases and instruments suitably expressive of our common aims. I like to think that our achievement is in part due to our training in democratic procedure and our tradition of the democratic forms of government.

We recognize in the Declaration of Lima our determination to present a common front against any threats or activities from outside forces designed to impair the peace, security, or territorial integrity of any country or to un