ey trace the origin of and
give the reason for the policy of this country in Cuba, the Philippines,
and Porto Rico, devised and inaugurated by him. It is not generally
known that the so-called Platt Amendment, defining our relations to
Cuba, was drafted by Mr. Root, and that the Organic Act of the
Philippines was likewise the work of Mr. Root as Secretary of War.

The argument before The Hague Tribunal in the North Atlantic Fisheries
Case is a rare if not the only instance of a statesman appearing as
chief counsel in an international arbitration, which, as Secretary of
State, he had prepared and submitted.

The political, educational, historical, and commemorative speeches and
addresses should make known to future generations the literary,
artistic, and emotional side of a statesman of our time, and the
publication of these collected addresses and state papers will, it is
believed, enable the American people better to understand the generation
in which Mr. Root has been a commanding figure and better to appreciate
during his lifetime the services which he has rendered to his country.

ROBERT BACON.
JAMES BROWN SCOTT.
APRIL 15, 1916.

FOREWORD

The visit of the Secretary of State to South America in 1906 was not a
summer outing. It was not an ordinary event; it was and it was intended
to be a matter of international importance. It was the first time that a
Secretary of State had visited South America during the tenure of his
office, and the visit was designed to show the importance which the
United States attaches to the Pan American conferences, and by personal
contact to learn the aims and views of our southern friends, and to show
also, by personal intercourse, the kindly consideration and the sense of
honorable obligation which the Government of the United States cherishes
for its neighbors to the south without discriminating among them, and to
make clear the destiny common to the peoples of the western world. These
were the reasons which prompted Mr. Root to undertake this message of
good will and of frank explanation, and these were also the reasons
which caused the President of the United States in his message to
Congress to dwell upon the visit, its incidents and its consequences.
Thus President Roosevelt said in his message of December 3, 1906:

The Second International Conference of American Republics,
held in Mexico in the years 1901-02, provided for the
holding of the t