THE unexpected and tragic death of Dr. Leo S. Rowe, Director of the Pan American Union, has brought grief to the whole continent, as there is not one country in this hemisphere that did not benefit from his kind, intelligent, and selfless labors. An apostle of Pan Americanism, he dedicated his whole life to it, as a writer and as a public official, with unwavering faith, and neither the overwhelming quantity of work nor his advancing years diminished his enthusiasm. He attended all the conferences of American States over a long period, always offering to those assemblies the assistance of his vast knowledge and experience in finding the best and wisest solution to the problems under consideration. At these conferences he showed his tact and his natural kindliness, which were the best and the most outstanding traits of his vigorous personality. He used these traits to draw people together and lead them toward the goal for which he was

always striving: cooperation and solidarity among the peoples of America.

The affection that his noble and frank nature inspired in all who came in contact with him, either in the social world or in the course of the multiple and complex activities of the Pan American Union, was an important factor in the success that always crowned his efforts. The course that he wisely set for the Pan American Union as a coordinating center of inter-American relations was a praiseworthy contribution to American public law, the great importance of which is being revealed and accentuated as time goes by.

The name of Dr. Rowe will live in the memory of Americans as long as the New World continues to be inspired by the principles he supported and as long as it is confident that these principles will bring about the union and peace that will serve as a strong framework for the future of our nations.

222

733900-47-7

It often happens that small institutions of an academic, scientific, or social nature become identified intellectually and almost materially with their promoters. Sometimes the lack of funds of an association, or the working together on ideas or special projects, or a personal or group desire to be exclusive, leads to the assumption, internally or externally, of the life and representation of the association by a man who is enthusiastic about its purpose, who struggles to keep it going, or who simply makes all or part of his living from the organization in question.

But I know of no other case like that of the Pan American Union and Dr. Leo S. Rowe, in which a great institution, continental in scope and world-wide in its influence, has become so thoroughly and acceptably identified with its leader in the mind of an immense community formed by millions of men.

The Pan American Union, because of its origin, its significance, and its organization, has impersonal characteristics. It is formed by 21 republics of a continent with an active international life. It includes various divisions, each of which could exist as a separate institution. Many prominent men devote their intelligence and energy to its work. Its activities have been carried on now for more than half a century. Yet, in spite of all these conditions and the essentially multiple nature of its action, the Pan American Union has been identified for a number of decades with the extraordinary figure of its great Director General, who died last December.

The zeal, the versatility, the skill, the judgment, the discretion, the courtesy, of

Dr. Rowe naturally brought to his hands all the spiritual threads of the vast organization over which he presided. Probably if he himself had been a man dedicated to certain specific studies, who had not spent the greater part of his life in the service of governments, their representatives, and ordinary citizens in need of the help of the Pan American Union, he would perhaps have left some important piece of research, advanced striking or controversial theories, or been an outstanding diplomat in the service of his country. But in him there was gradually formed in a simple and unforced way an international personality over and above the nationality that was his by birth. If his own nationality assumed importance at certain periods of his directorship, it was the result of his personal qualities and of his determination to realize in the best way possible the immediate and long-term aims of the Pan American Union.

This man-institution worked so hard that it is difficult to understand how he was able to continue his activities to an advanced age. In these days when popularity goes to the chiefs of nations or the chiefs of parties, the standard bearers of a policy or an idea, he won not only continental but universal popularity through the continuity, wisdom, and efficiency of his efforts, and through his presence in each of the great cities of the continent whenever it was host to an important international conference. Everywhere and at all times he helped to promote coordination, compromise, and balance. Political and diplomatic representatives of the American States who had a mission to

carry out and were bound by specific instructions, duties, or interpretations never found any obstacle placed in their way by Dr. Rowe, no matter how contradictory or divergent his views. On the contrary, they sought with pleasure and confidence his advice, his guidance, and his good offices to help them reach honorable results.

To visit Dr. Rowe in the stately building of the Pan American Union in Washington, which he dreamed so much of enlarging and improving during his last years, and to walk with him through the rooms and corridors, finishing with the now

classic photograph in the patio under the flag that his courtesy never forgot all this was part of the ritual pilgrimage that no man connected, however distantly, with international affairs failed to experience once or many times, according to the number of his visits to the capital of the United States.

First in work, in efficiency, and in courtesy, Dr. Rowe through the sum total of his good qualities and through his constant and valuable connections with the American Republics was, perhaps, the only man who, so far, has deserved continental citizenship.

WITH the tragic death two weeks ago of Dr. Leo S. Rowe, Director General of the Pan American Union, there was brought to a close one of the most constructive careers and one of the most truly valuable lives of our times.

When he was killed by an automobile in the streets of Washington, Dr. Rowe was 75 years of age. Yet to those of us who knew him well the toll which the passage of the years had taken of him seemed very slight indeed. His mentality was as quick and vigorous as it had ever been. His fabulous energy was unimpaired. Had he been. spared, he undoubtedly would have been able to render an even greater record of service to the great cause with which he had so long been identified-the cause of inter-American friendship, understanding, and solidarity. At this moment in the history of the Western Hemisphere I can think of no one individual whom the peoples of the Americas could so ill afford to spare as Dr. Rowe.

It is not often that we find among our public servants a man of outstanding ability who has not only pursued one ideal throughout his adult life, but who, through his individual efforts, has also been afforded the opportunity of consistently furthering that ideal, and of bringing it markedly nearer attainment. Dr. Rowe was one of those rare men. He once told me that his determination to devote himself to the promotion of inter-American friendship was first formed when he was in his early twenties, and that every step that Broadcast December 15, 1946, over Station WOL, Washington.

he had subsequently taken had been taken. with that one end in view.

His first practical experience in Latin America was that which he obtained during the McKinley administration as a member of a commission appointed to codify the laws of Puerto Rico, and subsequently as Chairman of the Insular Code Commission. As soon as that work had been completed, he commenced an intensive self-education in every branch of Latin American affairs. He traveled extensively through all parts of South and Central America. He began those close friendships with leading men in all of the other American Republics, particularly with prominent figures in the political, professional, and educational fields, which later resulted in his becoming the North American who probably had more devoted personal friends in the nations to the south of us than any other citizen of the United States.

He served as a delegate from this country to the Pan American Conference held in Rio de Janeiro in 1906 at which Elihu Root, then Secretary of State of the United States, delivered that epochal address which contributed so much to the development of sounder and healthier foundations for inter-American relations. During the next ten years he was constantly active in both official and unofficial endeavors to strengthen inter-American ties. He accepted appointment in 1917 by President Wilson as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury primarily because of the fact that the work then offered him in the Treasury Department was chiefly concerned with