America's Isolation President Roosevelt's speech to the Pan-American Conference at
Buenos Aires on Tuesday can only be read as a re-emphasis of the traditional American policy of isolation. That the States of America should think first of banishing the spectre of war from their own continent is natural and right, and there is significance in Mr. Roosevelt's warning to any States which, " driven by war-madness or land-hunger, might seek to commit acts of aggression against us." , That is a vigorous and calculated reaffirmation of the Monroe Doctrine, and it is no doubt meant to be read in Asia as well as in Europe. There is no hint in the speech of the retention of the attitude of neutrality defined in the earlier stages of the Abyssinian dispute, and the rumours, never very authori- tative, of Mr. Roosevelt's intentions to propose some kind of general peace conference find no confirmation. But the inferences to be drawn from these statements and omissions are limited. This was only a single intro- ductory speech on a formal occasion, and the considered policy of the United States will be developed in the course of the Conference by its chief delegate Mr. Cordell Hull. From him some indication that for the moment progress must be mainly in the field of economic under- standings may be hoped for.
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