lf such a policy of aggression by the United
States is already feared and resented.[1] The people to the south of
us do not take our professions of disinterestedness with the simple
faith of little children, but see in us a virile, formidable,
unconsciously imperialistic nation, which has already benefited by its
guardianship and hopes to benefit still more. They fear the colour
prejudice in the United States and a certain unreasoning contempt for
Latin-American civilisation might lead us impatiently to set aside
their rights if they conflicted with our own interests. The Latin
Americans already speak of a "North American Peril." They remember
Texas, {209} Panama, Porto Rico. Indeed, they recognise that the
United States, in despite of itself, may be forced to expand
southwards. "It is more than probable," writes the Mexican
sociologist, F. Bulnes, "that by 1980 the United States will hold a
population of 250,000,000 inhabitants. They will then scarcely be
sufficient for the needs of this population, and will no longer be able
to supply the world with the vast quantity of cereals which they supply
to-day. They will therefore have to choose between a recourse to the
methods of intensive culture and the conquest of the extra-tropical
lands of Latin America, which are fitted, by their conditions, to the
easy and inexpensive production of cereals."[2]

There is a nearer danger. "Sometimes," writes Garcia Calderon, "this
North American influence becomes a monopoly, and the United States
takes possession of the markets of the South. They aim at making a
trust of the South American republics, the supreme dream of their
multi-millionaire _conquistadors_."[3] Thus to shut off Latin America,
as Spain once did, would, however, injure the Southern republics and
create an antagonism that would find its expression in armed
resistance. Nor would this resistance be entirely negligible. A
century ago, Latin America had a population of fifteen millions; to-day
its population is eighty millions and is rapidly increasing. As an
ally to European nations, opposed to aggression by the United States, a
Latin-American country or group of countries might well exert a
decisive influence.

Ill defined and vague, capable of being indefinitely expanded by all
sorts of sudden interpretations, the Monroe {210} Doctrine is to-day a
peril to Latin America and to ourselves. It is likely to become even
more dangerous if turned over to an