A DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 83, 31 December 1938, Page 10

A DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY

With the adoption of the Declaration of Lima, which has been signed by delegates of 21 republics, the most significant international purpose of the Pan-American Conference has been achieved. The Declaration affirms the solidarity of the American republics- and includes a convention providing for compulsory consultation in the event of the peace of any one of the signatories being threatened from any source. It does not go as far, perhaps, as its leading sponsor, the United States, may have wished. It does not have the full effect predicted in some quarters, namely, that it would “put teeth into the interAmerican peace treaties signed at the Buenos Aires Peace Conference in 9316”; nevertheless, it is a worthy accomplishment in itself, and possibly a stepping-stone to closer unity. Two years ago at Buenos Aires it was hoped that the Lima Conference would bring about a Pan-American institution on the lines of the League of Nations, together with some form of general alliance more tangible than a convention which amounts simply to a defensive gesture. This ambition has not been realized, and in view of ,the swift and competitive development of economic interests and racial friendships between Europe and South America, failure to realize it is not astonishing. The fact, however, that the South American States have chosen without exception to subscribe to what President Roosevelt termed a “strong citadel” of democratic freedom in the Western Hemisphere indicates that Pan-American fellowship is unimpaired in spirit, in spite of the inroads reported to have been made by extreme doctrines and so-called cultural influences.

Hesitancy in signing the Declaration was shown only by the Argentine, whose delegates, no doubt, had in mind the importance of preserving her European commercial relations. Argentina is by far the largest exporter in South America, and 70 per cent, of her immense surpluses of meat and cereals is purchased by European countries. To her self-sufficiency is meaningless and Pan-American isolation an economic impossibility. Her destiny is that of a world trader in primary products, and her prosperity is dependent upon freedom for the continuance and expansion of that trade. The situation of Argentina, in brief, demonstrates with great clarity the truth of President Roosevelt’s contention that the fortunes of the Americas are linked, whether they choose or not, with those of the Old World, and that for motives of self-interest and self-preservation alone the republics must make their contribution to world peace. Individually they are each less a factor for peace than a temptation to totalitarian ambition for the extension of spheres of political influence. Collectively, and headed by their “good neighbour” to the north, they are capable of showing impressive and steadying example. It is this which invests the Declaration of Lima with an importance which transcends the mild formality of its phrasing.