In view of the statements made by Mr. Root himself in his various addresses, and in view of President Roosevelt's statement of them, and of the results of the visit, it does not seem necessary further to detain the reader. It is, however, proper to call attention to the fact that, in addition to the speeches delivered by Mr. Root in South America, which were published by the Government of the United States in an official volume, the reader will find Mr. Root's addresses during a visit to Mexico which he made in 1906, upon his return from South America; Mr. Root's addresses before the Central American Peace Conference, which met in Washington in the fall of 1907; and the various addresses which Mr. Root made in the United States in his official and unofficial capacity, explaining to his countrymen the aims and aspirations of the American peoples to the south of our own Republic, the progress they have made since their emancipation from European tutelage, and the future before them which, like ripening fruits, they need only stretch forth the hand to pluck. The undiscovered land--for to many of us it is unknown--is a land of exquisite beauty, grace and courtesy, which the reader may here visit, if he choose, in company with Mr. Root.
Mr. Root's addresses on his South American trip were all in English. The addresses of welcome and congratulation were in the language of the country in which they were delivered. They appear in translated form in the present volume, and attention is called to the fact that they are translations, in order to relieve the speakers of responsibility for any infelicities of expression in their English form.
THE THIRD CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS RIO DE JANEIRO, JULY 31, 1906
As Secretary of State Mr. Root was _ex-officio_ chairman of the Governing Board of the Bureau of American Republics, now called the Pan American Union. As chairman, he took a very great interest in considering and arranging the program of the third conference which was to meet in Rio de Janeiro on July 23, 1906. Indeed, he was so deeply interested in the conference of the American republics upon the eve of the meeting of the Second Hague Peace Conference, that he decided to visit Rio de Janeiro during the meeting of the conference. The American republics welcomed this decision as soon as it was made known and urged him to visit them, and it was with great regret that Mr. Root found himself unable to visit all of the republics. He was made honorary president of the conference and in that capacity delivered the following address.