eventual triumph of integrity, justice, respect for order based on law, and recognition of the essential dignity and worth of the human spirit and mind.

I personally am anticipating the opportunity to work again with my friends of the other American republics, as I have had the pleasure of doing at two previous conferences, to forward our program of elaborating measures of mutual benefit and of advantage for the welfare of the American peoples. Our country happily maintains cordial and friendly relations with all the other American nations. Our representatives will meet the delegates from the other American republics in a spirit of sympathetic give-and-take. While naturally giving every attention to the interests of the United States, they will work on the principle that what is for the good of all is to the advantage of each.

The evidence of public interest in the Conference at Lima is most encouraging. I do not believe that too much emphasis can be placed upon the great moral force exerted in

international affairs by an alert and informed public opinion. I am confident that the work accomplished and the measures agreed upon at Lima will commend themselves to the thoughtful attention and the support of all of the American peoples. It is only with this thought and support that a comprehensive proof inter-American friendship and coopera

gram

tion can be carried out.

Statement Made at Panamá, November 30, 1938, en route to the Conference

T WAS my great pleasure to enjoy the

IT

cordial and hospitable welcome of your

country during January 1934 upon my re

turn from the Seventh International Conference of American States at Montevideo. That experience makes this second visit doubly enjoyable. I bring you again the most friendly greetings from the people and Government of my own country.

Panama, the crossroads of the new world where Americans of the South and of the North frequently meet, may well stand as a symbol of that inter-American solidarity which is assuming ever greater significance and importance to all of us. In another sense, the world is at a crossroads today, with one course leading to peace, international order and justice, and the welfare of peoples, while the other would take

humanity along the road of war, destruction, and anarchy. I am confident that the coming meeting at Lima will be a constructive factor in favor of the first course, which is the way of the American republics.

Your country is a loyal advocate of the principles which the American republics have accepted to govern relations among themselves. I look forward to renewed cooperation with the members of the Panamanian delegation in what I am confident will be the fruitful work of the Lima Conference.

A few decades ago the voyage which we are now making to Lima would have entailed many additional thousands of miles at sea. Now Panama serves as a further link in the ties of business, trade, and travel which are drawing our peoples into closer and mutually beneficial contact. At this focal point of interAmerican communications by sea and air and land, we cannot but be impressed by the natural opportunities offered to all of us for a highly profitable interchange. This interchange

is not only that of trade, but the more important exchange of ideas, culture, and friendship. When we return from Lima, I am sure that all of us will have a stronger faith in the development of an international order in this hemisphere which will embody the best of our respective institutions, cultures, and civilizations.