On this page of the Pan American Day number of the BULLETIN of the Pan American Union there has appeared year after year a friendly greeting to the peoples of the continent, written by Dr. L. S. Rowe, our beloved and respected Director General.

Today our hearts are heavy and our minds are filled with memories. For the wise and upright man who was the administrator of this organization has gone from among us and now we, his co-workers, must keep bright his memory and speak in his name a few words to those who have been awaiting his message of hope this year.

But in this publication, in his office, in the Governing Board room, and in the various technical offices of the Pan American Union, his presence will continue to be felt. He will always be the inspiration and guide of the Pan American movement, not only on occasions of great historic import but in humble everyday tasks as well.

Chiefs of state, legislative bodies, Cabinet members, university presidents, teachers, newspapermen, and representatives of organized labor, of clubs, of civic and cultural associations, in all countries of the Western Hemisphere, have sent messages to the Pan American Union lamenting the irreparable loss suffered by Pan Americanism in the death of Dr. Rowe.

The expressions of sympathy and understanding received in these bitter hours bear witness to the fact that his stimulating and beneficial influence on the progress of continental fraternity extended throughout all America. The forward march of voluntary and resolute cooperation, of constructive action, and of clear thinking has given the Pan American movement its distinctive character as an exemplary undertaking of wide scope.

We who are continuing our work in this organization know that in all the countries members of the Pan American Union we have a legion of devoted and unselfish

supporters. In the fields of economy, education, letters, arts, and sciences the best elements have joined to give to the task of continental rapprochement both a creative impulse and a genuinely popular meaning.

The Pan American Union is deeply grateful to all those who spread and strengthen its high ideals. In agricultural and industrial centers, in shops, in schoolrooms, in university halls, in the activities concerned with the production and distribution of wealth, in national and international financial institutions, Pan Americanism has a task to do and it needs the cooperation of the men and women who work unfalteringly at those tasks.

The creative spirit of Pan Americanism must be strengthened and broadened day by day. At the end of 1947, the Ninth International Conference of American States will be held in the capital of Colombia. At that meeting the vast structure of the Inter-American System will be

consolidated and the foundation laid not only for its functions within the hemisphere but also for a firmer relationship with the United Nations.

The Governing Board of the Pan American Union has labored with great diligence and competence in the preparation of the material to be considered at the Bogotá Conference. At this writing almost all of the projects to be submitted to the conference have been prepared.

Dr. L. S. Rowe, our leader, our chief, our friend, was not permitted to celebrate with us this Pan American Day of 1947, or to attend the conference at Bogotá. We are sure, however, that at that assembly, as well as within the Pan American Union itself and throughout all America, his noble life and his fruitful work will continue to exert their influence and that his spirit will always be a source of inspiration to those entrusted with keeping aloft the banner of a constructive and generous Pan Americanism.

THERE is nothing in the philosophy of the Pan American movement, or in the principles of the Inter-American System, or in the regulations of the Pan American Union that is opposed to the theory or to the practice of an international order. From its very beginning, Pan Americanism displayed a strong internationalist tendency. Its illustrious herald, Simón Bolívar, was a thinker whose mentality was marked by universality.

The "Liberator" was a true world citizen. The descendant of Europeans, Bolívar was born and lived his early years in America. During his youth he visited Europe; and later, before undertaking the glorious enterprise that was to distinguish him forever in history, he returned to the Old Continent. Bolívar never permitted his Americanism to obscure the European reality and, through it, the world reality. Hero of his country's independence, his activities carried him far beyond the frontiers of Venezuela. He liberated the territory of six of the present republics of the continent: Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. And at the same time, he was the first to envisage the greatness of a strongly united America.

Thinking as an American, Bolívar laid the foundations of what we today call Pan Americanism; in fact, he proposed the creation of a great Confederation of American Nations. To him, America was one; it was a "Queen of Nations,' "Mother of Republics." But he went even beyond that. With prophetic vision, he announced the advent of a world order and, at the beginning of the past century,

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he predicted that some day not only would America be one but that all the nations of the world would adopt one single govern

ment.

The Pan Americanism of Bolívar was, then, the precursor of a continental order which, in its turn, can serve as the inspiration and model for establishing an even greater order: the world order. Because of the far-reaching vision of that genius of America, the New Continent can take pride in having been the forerunner of internationalism.

With Bolívar, the first free Americanshaving won the independence of their respective nations--discovered the supreme value of their mutual interdependence. This is a characteristic of the thought and action of the American Republics. It explains in part why we, accustomed to think in terms of an entire continent, are perhaps better prepared than others to think in. terms of the entire world.

In fact, since a free America first came to life, it has made itself the spokesman for the general interests of man. It is true that our continent was settled by people who belonged to diverse races, cultures, and religions. But that in itself is not sufficient to explain our internationalism. countries, other continents have also been peopled by men of various races, cultures, and religions. And they have never thought or acted as members of an international community.

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America's vast extent permitted it to give shelter, without difficulty or conflict, to the varied peoples who came to the "New World" to create in it a "New Way" of life. The geographical make-up

of the Western Hemisphere is, therefore, one of the circumstances that explains American internationalism. Ours is an enormous continent, separated materially from the rest of the world by two vast oceans that extend from pole to pole. America is a true continent; perhaps the only one that, because of its geography, deserves such an appellation. In fact, how difficult it is to fix the dividing line between Europe and Asia, or between the latter and Africa!

Furthermore, to understand why the internationalist spirit could flourish in our hemisphere, three relevant factors must be considered: Christianity, liberty, and democracy.

Christianity is an essentially internanational phenomenon. The spirit of fraternity proclaimed by that religion cannot logically recognize frontiers of any kind. Catholic conquistadors and Protestant settlers introduced, into the American world, the noble idea of universal brotherhood.

Neither can the ideal of liberty admit national limits. Whoever believes in liberty must accept it for everyone. Otherwise he does not believe in liberty at all. The really free man will never resign himself to living among slaves.

And the same thing may be said about democracy. From its first days of independent life, America declared its faith in republican institutions. Later above all since the period that began with Franklin D. Roosevelt the representatives of America have proclaimed, in international assemblies, their irrevocable faith in the goodness of democracy. Still further, they have officially declared that such faith constitutes the ideological basis of the entire Inter-American System. And democracy, like Christianity and like liberty, is a world concept. It rests on the import we concede to the majority. The jurisdic

tion of democracy is world-wide, because, obviously, it is not concerned with a particular majority. To make law, it is enough that there be a majority; and the more numerous that majority, the more authentic the democracy that rests upon it.

Undeniably the faith that the first free Americans professed in democracy arose in good part from the natural optimism inherent in the men of America. It is an optimism that at times provokes a skeptical smile from certain Europeans; but it is a legitimate optimism, healthy and constructive, that squares with the material conditions of our hemisphere: wide spaces, abundant natural resources, dynamic immigration and, with all this, a gifted and friendly native population. Above all, optimism without which it would be difficult to have faith in the progress of the world.

All the antidemocratic philosophies, so foreign to the American mentality, are inspired by a dire mistrust of man. Naturally, such philosophies cannot accept the mandate of the majority, and they are obliged hysterically to proclaim the necessity of "leaders" and of select minorities. This radical pessimism provides the moral basis for the fascist interpretation of history.

Once the nations of America had triumphed in their struggle for independence, they immediately set about establishing a system of international relations based on the interdependence of all countries; first, those of America. Guided by Bolívar, we hastened to consolidate Pan Americanism. I say "we" because the Pan American movement, during its first years, was almost exclusively Latin American.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States of America, in full process of expansion, was not ready to enter into international commitments that might restrain its freedom of action. I