Pamphlet Series (Volume 7)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917. Excerpt: ... Io. The Central American League of Nations. Central America is not unlike the world at large. It has had its Washingtons and Lincolns, its Caesars and Napoleons, its Louis XIV's and George Ill's, its Richelieus and Metternichs. Whereas statesmen generally put their Utopias and strike their moral attitudes in public addresses, the Central Americans wrote theirs in the form of constitutions and treaties; and consequently their failures have attracted more attention and criticism. In reality they have shown rare virtue in not defending the vicious system they produced. Central America has never defended militarism or revolution; it knew it was a miserable sinner, and that is more than the world at large knows concerning itself. The machinery of international organization was set up in Central America less than ten years ago, and from that time on statesmen have cherished a hope of peace and have actually seen it realized more completely than ever before in a century of aspiration. In a word, a complete system providing for the settlement of all disputes without war and for annual diplomatic conferences was established--the precise remedies which practical students of the world's present predicament are prescribing as the preventive of future wars. Before that time Central America was the scene of war almost constantly; since then there has been no international war in Central America. The common birthday of the five countries at the waist of the Western Hemisphere was September 25, 1821, and the anniversary is celebrated each year. The last anniversary number of Centro-America, the official organ of the five republics, contains the following significant statement: Examples destroy the now discredited legend that these peoples of IndoSpanish origin are incapa...