purposes as will advance the interests of our
country, encourage and maintain friendly relations with the country of
our residence, and assist in promoting closer commercial union between
the United States and the countries of the River Plata."

It is an organization framed in the spirit of our beloved Lincoln, "with
malice toward none." The society has no political aim or purpose. It
plots for nothing but the well-being of all, and wishes for nothing less
than the prosperity of the home land and the land of our residence. Its
members are imbued with that spirit which is the characteristic
American attitude toward all nations and peoples, the spirit of "live
and let live." Apart from all that your visit may mean in international
comity, it means much to us here; for you, Mr. Secretary, are the very
living embodiment of the spirit to which I have referred, that broad
Americanism which does not seek to advantage itself by intruding on the
rights of others. Every speech made by you since leaving home has been
an inspiration to us, and has strengthened us in our determination to
live up to the principles upon which our society is founded.

But it is not alone the Americans in Buenos Ayres who have come here
tonight to greet you, and who have wished to do you honor. Your kinsmen
from across the sea are here in their hundreds, for when it became known
that such a reception as this was contemplated, the requests for the
privilege of joining with us were so great in number that the sincerity
of the English-speaking people could not be questioned, and the American
society welcomed the opportunity to invite as its guests as many of the
representative British and other English-speaking residents of Buenos
Ayres as this hall can hold; and there is represented here every
important public interest and private enterprise in this republic, and I
have the honor, in their name as well as in the name of your countrymen,
to assure you that you are in the house of your friends.

I have told you, Mr. Root, what your countrymen feel about your coming
here; I have referred to the cordial sympathy shown by the
English-speaking residents; and it is with feelings of genuine pleasure
that I now make reference to the attitude of the Argentine Government
and the Argentine people. This reference will not be my personal view
alone; it is the expression of the feelings of representative Americans
in this city which has been voiced at every meeting we