Latin America and the United States: Addresses by Elihu RootRoot, Elihu
History
Latin America and the United States: Addresses by Elihu Root
Root, Elihu
America -- Foreign relations; Latin America -- Foreign relations -- United States; United States -- Foreign relations -- Latin America
Mr. Chairman, I should have been glad to see all these wonderful things
as an inconspicuous observer. It is quite foreign to my habits and to my
nature to move through applauding throngs, accompanied by guards of
honor; yet perhaps it is well that the idea which I represent should be
applauded by crowds and accompanied by guards of honor. The pomp and
circumstance of war attract the fancy of the multitude; the armored
knight moves across the page of romance and of poetry and kindles the
imagination of youth; the shouts of the crowd, the smiles of beauty, the
admiration of youth, the gratitude of nations, the plaudits of mankind,
follow the hero about whom the glamor of military glory dims the eye to
the destruction and death and human misery that follow the path of war.
Perhaps it is well that sometimes there should go to the herdsman on his
lonely ranch, to the husbandman in his field, to the clerk in the
counting-house and the shop, to the student at his books, to the boy in
the street, the idea that there is honor to be paid to those qualities
of mankind which rest upon justice, upon mercy, upon consideration for
the rights of others, upon humanity, upon the patient and kindly spirit,
upon all those exercises of the human heart which lead to happy homes,
to prosperity, to learning, to art, to religion, to the things that
dignify life and ennoble it and give it its charm and grace.
We honor Washington as the leader of his country's forces in the war of
independence; but that supreme patience which enabled him to keep the
warring elements of his people at peace is a higher claim to the
reverence of mankind than his superb military strategy. San Martín was
great in his military achievements; his Napoleonic march across the
Andes is entitled to be preserved in the history of military affairs so
long as history is written; but the almost superhuman self-abnegation
with which he laid aside power and greatness that peace might give its
strength to his people, was greater than his military achievements. The
triumphant march of the conquering hero is admirable and to be greeted
with huzzas, but the conquering march of an idea which makes for
humanity is more admirable and more to be applauded. This is not theory;
it is practical. It has to do with our affairs today; for we are now in
an age of the world when not governors, not presidents, not congresses,
but the people determine the issues of peace or war, of controversy or
of quiet. I am an advocate of arbitration; I am an advocate of
mediation; of all the measures that tend toward bringing reasonable and
cool judgment to take the place of war; but let us never forget that
arbitration and mediation--all measures of that description--are but the
treatment of the symptoms and not the treatment of the cause of disease;
and that the real cure for war is to get into the hearts of the people
and lead them to a just sense of their rights and other people's rights,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account