s the recognition
of the personality of the American nations, thus giving proof of the
interest it takes, with equal concern, in the future of the peoples
civilized for a century, as well as in that of the countries just
commencing their existence. The American Constitution, the Monroe
Doctrine, together with the policy of President Roosevelt, and of his
Secretary of State, Mr. Root, voice in this manner, through the pages of
history, the same language of liberty, of justice, humanity, and
Americanism.

How deep is the lesson to be learned from these facts!

The ancient ideas founded right upon force, the regime of the social
bodies was that of privilege, and individual efforts were tied by bonds
imposed in the name of the authorities. The modern ideas, such as the
United States proclaim, found all right upon justice, and the social
regime upon liberty and equality. The human being is not an instrument
for the display of arbitrary power, but is the whole object of social
life, the mission of which is the development of its energies, its moral
conscience, the improvement and welfare of individuals and of nations.

According to the ancient ideas, the greatness of the nations was
measured by their military power and by the limits of their conquests of
force. According to modern ideas, as represented by the United States,
the greatness of nations is measured by the conquests obtained by
individual and collective efforts, thereby creating the fruitful and
happy reign of truth, of justice, of labor, and of peace.

War was formerly a glory; nowadays it is a calamity. Later on it will be
condemned as the sad ancestral remains of barbarism and savagery.

The evolution of ideas is that which now rules the world; and if people
do not always comprehend this fact it is because the selfish and
personal prejudices, passions, and interests disturb and impair their
judgment.

In modern progress, the regime of privilege and of force can no longer
create rights nor lend security for the future or the aggrandizement of
nations; and nowadays those individuals do not render a service to their
native land who, while they sacrifice permanent interests, think they
can calculate the meridian of their country by the artificial
reflections of a moment, transitory and perishable.

The regime of force or of armed peace consumes the vital forces and the
resources of nations; and then from the abyss of inequality, of
affliction, and danger pro