ill be devoted to the diffusion of that
international knowledge which dispels national prejudice and liberalizes
national judgment. Here will be fostered the growth of that sympathy
born of similarity in good impulses and noble purposes, which draws men
of different races and countries together into a community of nations,
and counteracts the tendency of selfish instincts to array nations
against each other as enemies. From this source shall spring mutual
helpfulness between all the American republics, so that the best
knowledge and experience and courage and hope of every republic shall
lend moral power to sustain and strengthen every other in its struggle
to work out its problems and to advance the standard of liberty and
peace with justice within itself, and so that no people in all these
continents, however oppressed and discouraged, however impoverished and
torn by disorder, shall fail to feel that they are not alone in the
world, or shall fail to see that for them a better day may dawn, as for
others the sun has already arisen.

It is too much to expect that there will not be controversies between
American nations to whose desire for harmony we now bear witness; but to
every controversy will apply the truth that there are no international
controversies so serious that they cannot be settled peaceably if both
parties really desire peaceable settlement, while there are few causes
of dispute so trifling that they cannot be made the occasion of war if
either party really desires war. The matters in dispute between nations
are nothing; the spirit which deals with them is everything.

The graceful courtesy of the twenty republics who have agreed upon the
capital of the United States for the home of this International Union,
the deep appreciation of that courtesy shown by the American Government
and this representative American citizen, and the work to be done within
the walls that are to rise on this site, cannot fail to be powerful
influences towards the creation of a spirit that will solve all disputed
questions of the future and preserve the peace of the Western World.

May the structure now begun stand for many generations to come as the
visible evidence of mutual respect, esteem, appreciation, and kindly
feeling between the peoples of all the republics; may pleasant memories
of hospitality and friendship gather about it, and may all the Americas
come to feel that for them this place is home, for it is theirs, the