by the
present Administration for the moribund Monroe Doctrine.

In no single instance of virtual annexation or protectorate have we
consulted by popular vote either the desires of those inhabiting the
respective territories annexed or The Hague Tribunal. In every case we
have had one single plea and one only--self-interest.

The entire American continent south of our frontier we have closed to
all European settlement, thereby maintaining for more than a century in
a magnificent territory an imperfect civilization which makes a sorry
use of natural resources which could vastly improve the condition of all
mankind if properly used.

This is the light in which European nations see us; our identity in
this policy from the dawn of our national existence onward they consider
a proof of our national character. It differs in no respect from their
own policies except in one.

But for them this exception is basic. We are a composite folk and they
are homogeneous, their blend being approximately complete. They have one
language, one tradition, one set of institutions and laws; a unity of
literature, habits, and method in life. Some European States are
composite, but each component part claims and cultivates its own style
and its own principles; each announces itself as a nationality with a
life to be maintained and a destiny to be wrought out somehow, either in
peace or in conflict.

With perhaps a single exception, they have an overflow of population,
due to natural generation, for the comfort and happiness of which they
seek either an expansion of territory or an improvement in the
productivity of their home lands; for those who must emigrate they
passionately desire the perpetuation of their nationality, with all it
implies.

In these respects they do not differ from us, except that perhaps we are
more determined and imperious. We cannot think politically in any other
terms than those of democratic government, either direct or
representative.

At the present hour we are engaged in the very dubious experiment of
direct popular legislation and administration. We are trying to change
our Government radically, discarding its representative form for that of
delegation. The remotest cause of this is the desire to amalgamate all
our elements into homogeneity. So far this policy has resulted in a
demand, not for equality of political and civil rights, but for its
overthrow, substituting laws intended to create social and econ