There has been, especially in recent years, a very strong feeling that the points which the American republics have in common greatly exceed their differences and that stated conferences of the American republics would not only tend to accentuate the points in common but would enable them to take common action in matters of common interest, remove unwarranted suspicions which often exist between and among peoples which do not come into contact, and tend to lessen the very differences.

In 1881, the Honorable James G. Blaine, then secretary of state of the United States, stated that in the opinion of the President of the United States "the time is ripe for a proposal that shall enlist the good-will and active coÖperation of all the states of the western hemisphere, both north and south, in the interest of humanity and for the common weal of nations."[7] Mr. Blaine proposed on behalf of the President, that a congress meet in the city of Washington. The congress or conference actually took place in that city in 1889-1890, during the secretaryship of state of Mr. Blaine. This is commonly called the International American Conference. All of the American countries, with the exception of Santo Domingo, were represented, and they agreed upon "the establishment of an American International Bureau for the collection, tabulation, and publication, in the English, Spanish, and Portuguese languages, of information as to the productions and commerce, and as to the customs laws and regulations of their respective countries; such bureau to be maintained in one of the countries for the common benefit and at the common expense, and to furnish to all the other countries such commercial statistics and other useful information as may be contributed to it by any of the American republics."[8]

This was the origin of the International Bureau of the American Republics, out of which has grown the Pan American Union, "a voluntary organization of the twenty-one American republics, including the United States, maintained by their annual contributions, controlled by a governing board composed of the diplomatic representatives in Washington of the other twenty governments and the secretary of state of the United States, who is chairman ex officio, and devoted to the development and conservation of peace, friendship, and commerce between them all."[9]

Modestly housed at first, the success of the Union required larger quarters for the performance of its work. Advantage was taken of this need to erect the building which was to be the visible and worthy symbol of Pan Americanism. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, a delegate on behalf of the United States to the first Pan American Conference in Washington, contributed $950,000 towards the construction of this building, the United States contributed the land, and the other American republics their respective quotas.The circumstances under which the funds for the erection of this building were obtained appear in the records of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, from which the following resolutions and correspondence have been obtained:

Resolution of the Third International Conference at Rio de Janeiro,
adopted August 13, 1906

The undersigned, Delegates of the Republics represented in the Third International American Conference, duly authorized by their Governments, have approved the following Resolution:

The Third International American Conference Resolves:

1. To express its gratification that the project to establish a permanent centre of information and of interchange of ideas among the Republics of this Continent, as well as the erection of a building suitable for the Library in memory of Columbus has been realized.

2. To express the hope that, before the meeting of the next International American Conference the International Bureau of American Republics will be housed in such a way as to permit it to properly fulfil the important functions assigned to it by this Conference.

Made and signed in the City of Rio de Janeiro, on the thirteenth day of the month of August, nineteen hundred and six, in English, Portuguese and Spanish, and deposited in the Department of Foreign Relations of the Government of the United States of Brazil, in order that certified copies thereof be made, and forwarded through diplomatic channels to each one of the Signatory States.

For Ecuador.—Emilio ArÉvalo, Olmedo Alfaro.

For Paraguay.—Manoel Gondra, Arsenio LÓpez Decoud, Gualberto CardÚs y Huerta.

For Bolivia.—Alberto GutiÉrrez, Carlos V. Romero.

For Colombia.—Rafael UrÌbe UrÌbe, Guillermo Valencia.

For Honduras.—Fausto DÁvila.

For Panama.—JosÉ Domingo de ObaldÍa.

For Cuba.—Gonzalo de Quesada, Rafael Montoro, Antonio GonzÁlez Lanuza.

For the Dominican Republic.—Emilio C. Joubert.

For Peru.—Eugenio Larabure y UnÁnue, Antonio MirÓ Quesada, Mariano Cornejo.

For El Salvador.—Francisco A. Reyes.

For Costa Rica.—AscensiÓn Esquivel.

For the United States of Mexico.—Francisco LeÓn de La Barra, Ricardo Molina-HÜbbe, Ricardo GarcÍa Granados.

For Guatemala.—Antonio Batres JÁuregui.

For Uruguay.—Luis Melian Lafinur, Antonio MarÍa RodrÍguez, Gonzalo RamÍrez.

For the Argentine Republic.—J. V. GonzÁlez, JosÉ A. Terry, Eduardo L. Bidau.

For Nicaragua.—Luis F. Corea.

For the United States of Brazil.—Joaquim Aurelio Nabuco de Araujo, Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil, GastÃo de Cunha, Alfredo de Moraes Gomes Ferreira, JoÃo PandiÁ Calogeras, Amaro Cavalcanti, Joaquim Xavier da Silveira, JosÉ P. da GraÇa Aranha, Antonio da Fontoura Xavier.

For the United States of America.—William I. Buchanan, L. S. Rowe, A. J. Montague, Tulio Larrinaga, Paul S. Reinsch, Van Leer Polk.

For Chile.—Anselmo Hevia Riquelme, JoaquÍn Walker MartÍnez, Luis Antonio Vergara, Adolfo Guerrero.

Resolution of the Governing Board and letter of the Secretary of State, Mr. Elihu Root,
to Mr. Andrew Carnegie, approved at the meeting of
December 19, 1906

Whereas, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the International Bureau of the American Republics has laid before this, the said Board, the following letter sent by him as chairman to Mr. Andrew Carnegie and has asked for the approval thereof by the Board—that is to say:

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the action of the Secretary of State, as Chairman of this Board, in sending the aforesaid letter be, and it hereby is, approved.

Mr. Carnegie to Mr. Root.

New York, January 1, 1907.

Hon. Elihu Root.

Secretary of State and ex officio Chairman of the Governing Board of the Bureau of South American Republics, Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir: I am greatly pleased that you and your colleagues of the South American Republics have done me the honor to suggest that I might furnish a suitable home in Washington for the Bureau of American Republics.

The approval of your application by the Governing Board of the International Bureau and President Roosevelt's hearty expressions of satisfaction are most gratifying.

You very kindly mention my membership of the first Pan American Conference and advocacy of the Pan American Railway, the gaps of which are being slowly filled. The importance of this enterprise impresses itself more and more upon me, and I hope to see it accomplished.

I am happy, therefore, in stating that it will be one of the pleasures of my life to furnish to the Union of all the Republics of this hemisphere the necessary funds ($750,000) from time to time as may be needed for the construction of an international home in Washington.

The coÖperation of our own Republic is seen in the appropriation of funds by Congress for the purchase of the site, and in the agreement between the Republics for the maintenance of the Bureau we have additional evidence of coÖperation, so that the forthcoming American Temple of Peace will be the joint work of all of the Republics. Every generation should see them drawing closer together.

It is a cheering thought that all these are for the first time to be represented at the forthcoming Hague Conference. Henceforth they are members of that body, whose aim is the settlement of international disputes by that "High Court of Nations" or other similar tribunal.

I beg to express to each and all of them my heartfelt thanks for being permitted to make such a New Year's gift as this. I have never felt more keenly than I do this New Year's morning how much more blessed it is to give than to receive, and I consider myself highly honored by being considered worthy to provide the forthcoming union home, where the accredited representatives of all the Republics are to meet and, I trust, to bind together their respective nations in the bonds of unbroken peace.

Very truly, yours,
Andrew Carnegie.

Resolutions approved by the Governing Board of the International Bureau of the
American Republics, January 30, 1907.

Resolved, That the letter of Mr. Andrew Carnegie to the Chairman of the Board, dated January 1, 1907, be received and filed and spread upon the minutes of the Board.

Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Bureau of American Republics express to Mr. Andrew Carnegie its acceptance and grateful appreciation of his generous and public-spirited engagement to supply the funds for the proposed new building for the Union of American Republics. The Board shares with Mr. Carnegie the hope that the institution whose work will thus be promoted may further the cause of peace and justice among nations and the sincere and helpful friendship of all the American Republics for each other.

Resolved, That the Chairman of the Board communicate a copy of the foregoing resolutions to Mr. Carnegie.

The Governing Board of the International Bureau of the American Republics further resolves:

1. That the letter of the Honorable the Secretary of State, Mr. Elihu Root, to Mr. Andrew Carnegie; the answer of this distinguished philanthropist, and the resolution of the Governing Board accepting this splendid gift be kept on file with the important documents of the Bureau; and

2. That the text of these letters and the resolutions thereon be artistically engrossed under the title of "Carnegie's Gift to the International Bureau of the American Republics," and, properly framed, to form a part of the exhibit of the Bureau at the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition.On May 11, 1908, Mr. Root, then secretary of state, whose forethought and personal efforts had made its construction possible, delivered the address at the laying of the corner stone, and later, on April 26, 1910, when he was no longer secretary of state but senator of the United States and friend of the Americas, he delivered the principal address at the dedication of the building. These two addresses follow:

ADDRESS AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF
THE BUILDING FOR THE PAN AMERICAN UNION
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 11, 1908

We are here to lay the corner stone of the building which is to be the home of the International Union of American Republics.[10]

The wise liberality of the Congress of the United States has provided the means for the purchase of this tract of land—five acres in extent—near the White House and the great executive departments, bounded on every side by public streets and facing to the east and south upon public parks which it will always be the care of the National Government to render continually more beautiful, in execution of its design to make the national capital an object of national pride and a source of that pleasure which comes to rich and poor alike from the education of taste.

The public spirit and enthusiasm for the good of humanity, which have inspired an American citizen, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, in his administration of a great fortune, have led him to devote the adequate and ample sum of three-quarters of a million dollars to the construction of the building.[11]

Into the appropriate adornment and fitting of the edifice will go the contributions of every American republic, already pledged and, in a great measure, already paid into the fund of the Union.

The International Union for which the building is erected is a voluntary association, the members of which are all the American nations from Cape Horn to the Great Lakes. It had its origin in the first Pan American conference held at Washington in 1889, and it has been developed and improved in efficiency under the resolutions of the succeeding conferences in Mexico and Brazil. Its primary object is to break down the barriers of mutual ignorance between the nations of America by collecting and making accessible, furnishing and spreading, information about every country among the people of every other country in the Union, to facilitate and stimulate intercourse, trade, acquaintance, good understanding, fellowship, and sympathy. For this purpose it has established in Washington a bureau or office under the direction of a governing board composed of the official representatives in Washington of all the republics, and having a director and secretary, with a force of assistants and translators and clerks.

The bureau has established a rapidly increasing library of history, travel, description, statistics, and literature of the American nations. It publishes a Monthly Bulletin of current public events and existing conditions in all the united countries, which is circulated in every country. It carries on an enormous correspondence with every part of both continents, answering the questions of seekers for information about the laws, customs, conditions, opportunities, and personnel of the different countries; and it has become a medium of introduction and guidance for international intercourse.

The governing board is also a permanent committee charged with the duty of seeing that the resolutions of each Pan American conference are carried out and that suitable preparation is made for the next succeeding conference.

The increasing work of the bureau has greatly outgrown the facilities of its cramped quarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, and now at the close of its second decade and under the influence of the great movement of awakened sympathy between the American republics, the Union stands upon the threshold of more ample opportunity for the prosecution of its beneficent activity.

Many noble and beautiful public buildings record the achievements and illustrate the impulses of modern civilization. Temples of religion, of patriotism, of learning, of art, of justice, abound; but this structure will stand alone, the first of its kind—a temple dedicated to international friendship. It will be devoted to the diffusion of that international knowledge which dispels national prejudice and liberalizes national judgment. Here will be fostered the growth of that sympathy born of similarity in good impulses and noble purposes, which draws men of different races and countries together into a community of nations, and counteracts the tendency of selfish instincts to array nations against each other as enemies. From this source shall spring mutual helpfulness between all the American republics, so that the best knowledge and experience and courage and hope of every republic shall lend moral power to sustain and strengthen every other in its struggle to work out its problems and to advance the standard of liberty and peace with justice within itself, and so that no people in all these continents, however oppressed and discouraged, however impoverished and torn by disorder, shall fail to feel that they are not alone in the world, or shall fail to see that for them a better day may dawn, as for others the sun has already arisen.

It is too much to expect that there will not be controversies between American nations to whose desire for harmony we now bear witness; but to every controversy will apply the truth that there are no international controversies so serious that they cannot be settled peaceably if both parties really desire peaceable settlement, while there are few causes of dispute so trifling that they cannot be made the occasion of war if either party really desires war. The matters in dispute between nations are nothing; the spirit which deals with them is everything.

The graceful courtesy of the twenty republics who have agreed upon the capital of the United States for the home of this International Union, the deep appreciation of that courtesy shown by the American Government and this representative American citizen, and the work to be done within the walls that are to rise on this site, cannot fail to be powerful influences towards the creation of a spirit that will solve all disputed questions of the future and preserve the peace of the Western World.

May the structure now begun stand for many generations to come as the visible evidence of mutual respect, esteem, appreciation, and kindly feeling between the peoples of all the republics; may pleasant memories of hospitality and friendship gather about it, and may all the Americas come to feel that for them this place is home, for it is theirs, the product of a common effort and the instrument of a common purpose.

ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE BUILDING OF THE
PAN AMERICAN UNION, WASHINGTON, D. C.
APRIL 26, 1910

I am sure that this beautiful building must produce a lively sense of grateful appreciation in all who care for the growth of friendship among Americans; to Mr. Carnegie, not merely for his generous gift but for the large sympathy and far vision that prompted it; and to the associate architects, Mr. Albert Kelsey and Mr. Paul Cret, who, not content with making this structure express their sense of artistic form and proportion, have entered with the devotion and self-absorption of true art into the spirit of the design for which their bricks and marble are to stand. They have brought into happy companionship architectural suggestions of the North and of the South; and have wrought into construction and ornament in a hundred ways the art, the symbolism, the traditions, and the history of all the American republics; and they have made the building a true expression of Pan Americanism, of open mind and open heart for all that is true and noble and worthy of respect from whatever race or religion or language or custom in the western continents.

Nor should we forget the fine enthusiasm and understanding with which Mr. Borglum and Mr. Conti and Mrs. Farnham and Mrs. Whitney have brought sculpture to aid the architects' expression; nor the honest and faithful work of Mr. Norcross, the builder; nor the kind help of Mr. William Smith, of the Botanical Garden, who has filled the patio with tropical plants rare and strange to northern eyes, but familiar friends to the Latin American; nor the energy and unwearying labors of Mr. Barrett, the director of the bureau.

The active interest of President Taft and Secretary Knox is evidence that the policy of Pan American friendship, re-inaugurated by the sympathetic genius of Secretary Blaine, is continuous and permanent in the United States; and the harmony in which the members of the governing board have worked to this end is a good omen for the future.

This building is to be, in its most manifest utilitarian service, a convenient instrument for association and growth of mutual knowledge among the people of the different republics. The library maintained here, the books and journals accessible here, the useful and interesting publications of the bureau, the enormous correspondence carried on with seekers for knowledge about American countries, the opportunities now afforded for further growth in all these activities, justify the pains and the expense.

The building is more important, however, as the symbol, the ever-present reminder, the perpetual assertion, of unity, of common interest and purpose and hope among all the republics. This building is a confession of faith, a covenant of fraternal duty, a declaration of allegiance to an ideal. The members of The Hague conference of 1907 described the conference in the preamble of its great arbitration convention as:

Animated by the sincere desire to work for the maintenance of general peace.

Resolved to promote by all the efforts in their power the friendly settlement of international disputes.

Recognizing the solidarity uniting the members of the society of civilized nations.

Desirous of extending the empire of law and of strengthening the appreciation of international justice.