At a banquet that was given last winter to a great and distinguished man, Lord Grey, Governor-General of Canada, he said: "The nineteenth century was the century of the United States; the twentieth century will be the century of Canada." I should feel surer as a prophet if I were to say: "The twentieth century will be the century of South America." I believe, with him, in the great development of Canada; but just as the nineteenth century was the century of phenomenal development in North America, I believe that no student can help seeing that the twentieth century will be the century of phenomenal development in South America. And so our countries will be face to face in a new attitude. We cannot longer remain strangers to each other; our relations must be those of intimacy, and this is the time to say that our relations will be those of friendship. On the other hand, before long the construction of the canal across the Isthmus of Panama, which will fulfill the dreams of the early navigators, which will accomplish the work projected for centuries, will at last be completed, while the men who are today active in the business of both countries are still on the field of action. This, therefore, is the moment to safeguard harmony in the relations between the two nations. I do not believe that any one can say what changes the opening of the Panama Canal will bring in the affairs of the world; but we do know that great changes in the commercial routes of the world have changed the course of history, and no one can doubt that the creation of a waterway that will put the Pacific coast of South America in close touch with the Atlantic coast of North America must be a factor of incalculable importance in determining the affairs of the western hemisphere and promoting our relations of intimacy and friendship.