MONOPOLY MONROE DOCTRINE
Doctrine. In the first place we must as a nation make it
evident that we do not intend to treat it in any shape or
way as an excuse for aggrandizement on our part at the
expense of the republics to the south. We must
recognize the fact that in some South American
countries there has been much suspicion lest we should
interpret the Monroe Doctrine as in some way inimical
to their interests, and we must try to convince all the
other nations of this continent once and for all that no
just and orderly government has anything to fear from
us. There are certain republics to the south of us which
have already reached such a point of stability, order,
and prosperity that they themselves, though as yet
hardly consciously, are among the guarantors of this
doctrine. These republics we now meet not only on a
basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and
respectful friendship, which we hope is mutual. If all of
the republics to the south of us will only grow as those
to which I allude have already grown, all need for us to
be especial champion of the doctrine will disappear, for
no stable and growing American republic wishes to see
some great non-American military power acquire
territory in its neigborhood. All that this country desires
is that the other republics on this continent shall be
happy and prosperous; and they cannot be happy and
prosperous unless they maintain order within their
boundaries and behave with a just regard for their
obligations toward outsiders. (Fifth Annual Message,
Washington, December 5, 1905.) Mem. Ed. XVII, 352-
353; Nat. Ed. XV, 301-302.
____________. It is in no sense a doctrine of one-sided
advantage; it is to be invoked only in the interest of all
our commonwealths in the Western Hemisphere. It
should be invoked by our nations in a spirit of mutual
respct, and on a footing of complete equality of both
right and obligation. Therefore, as soon as any country
of the New World stands on a sufficiently high footing
of orderly liberty and achieved success, of self-
respecting strength, it becomes a guarantor of the
doctrine on a footing of complete equality. I
congratulate the countries of South America that I have
visited and am about to visit that their progress is such,
in justice, political stability and material prosperity, as
to make them also the sponsors of the Monroe Doctrine,
so that, as regards them, all that the United States has to
do is to stand ready, as one of the great brotherhood of
American nations, to join with them in upholding the
doctrine should they at any time desire, in the interest
of the Western
¾to see that the trusts live up to those requirements.
Our opponents have spoken as if we were going to let
the commission declare what the requirements should
be. Not at all. We are going to put the requirements in
the law and then see that the commission requires them
to obey that law. (At Milwaukee, Wis., October 14,
1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 449; Nat. Ed. XVII, 326.
MONOPOLY. See also BUSINESS; COMBINATIONS;
COMPETITION; CORPORATIONS; GOVERNMENT
CONTROL; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; INDUSTRIAL
COMMISSION; NORTHERN SECURITIES CASE; TRUSTS.
MONROE DOCTRINE. The Monroe Doctrine may
be briefly defined as forbidding European
encroachment on American soil. It is not desirable to
define it so rigidly as to prevent our taking into account
the varying degrees of national interest in varying
cases. The United States has not the slightest wish to
establish a universal protectorate over other American
States, or to become responsible for their misdeeds. If
one of them becomes involved in an ordinary quarrel
with a European power, such quarrel must be settled
between them in any one of the usual methods. But no
European State is to be allowed to aggrandize itself on
American soil at the expense of any American State.
Furthermore, no transfer of an American colony from
one European State to another is to be permitted, if, in
the judgment of the United States, such transfer would
be hostile to its own interests. (The Bachelor of Arts,
March 1896.) Mem. Ed. XV, 226; Nat. Ed. XIII, 169.
____________. The Monroe Doctrine should be the
cardinal feature of the foreign policy of all the nations
of the two Americas, as it is of the United States. . . .
The Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be
no territorial aggrandizement by any non-American
power at the expense of any American power on
American soil. It is in nowise intended as hostile to any
nation in the Old World. Still less is it intended to give
cover to any aggression by one New World power at
the expense of any other. It is simply a step, and a long
step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world
by securing the possibility of permanent peace on this
hemisphere. (First Annual Message, Washington,
December 3, 1901.) Mem. Ed. XVII, 134; Nat. Ed. XV,
116.
____________. There are certain essential points which
must never be forgotten as re gards the Monroe
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