In any case, the obvious comment on the Monroe Doctrine is that it has indeed protected the American republics from European aggression, but has not protected them from American aggression. It has not protected Peru from Chile nor Mexico and Colombia from the United States. Again, it is a uni-lateral arrangement announced by one Power alone, on the assumption that this action would be taken for granted by the other American republics. This attitude does not entirely commend itself to those states, especially as they grow stronger and more conscious of their strength. American business men plainly assert that the Monroe Doctrine is bad for business[4], and warn their countrymen against straining after a fictitious inter-American sentiment--an attitude which "is often a cause for resentment, the more felt because seldom expressed by the courteous Latin[5]." An article in the Pan-American Bulletin for December 1917 deserves particular attention. It cleaves through the difficulty by declaring, on the authority of Mr Root, that the Monroe Doctrine today means no more than what President Monroe meant a century ago: "The Monroe Doctrine is an assertion of the right of self-defence, that and nothing more. France and Britain are in the field to protect their Monroe Doctrine, the sovereignty and independence of Belgium ... there is nothing here ... in any way derogatory to the full sovereignty and independence of even the smallest of the Latin-American countries. It is true that the first proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine carried with it an implied offer of aid to the newly liberated Spanish-American colonies against proposed aggressions by the Holy Alliance. Self-protection was the motive ... it counts for nothing against a set purpose to defend one's own house that in so doing one performs an act by which one's neighbour is likewise defended." The article concludes by declaring that the Monroe Doctrine still prevails, strictly limited to its original sense, and that Pan-Americanism is an entirely distinct policy, which must not be confused with it.