The proposal to establish a Pan-American University at Panamá may be worth mentioning here. The suggestion sounds like a product of the tropical spirit of those regions; but it may yet take significant shape.
The United States, before entering the war, had largely increased her trade with Latin America. She succeeded in supplying, in great degree, the gaps left by Germany and Great Britain. Her entry into the war has deprived her of part of that advantage. But, on the other hand, the final decision, the manner in which it was made, and the resolute way in which it is being pursued, have vastly strengthened the moral standing of the United States in the New World. Those Latin-American states which are dependent on her joined her as belligerents. The action of Brazil, though taken independently and inspired more by French than by North American sympathies, followed North American action and cannot be wholly dissociated from it. Most of the Latin-American states, by their attitude towards the war, have as it were mounted guard behind the Allies. But the United States stands embattled in front of her southern neighbours, to fight the monster which threatens them all. The United States now, at last, appears, not merely as the theoretic propounder of a protection which was really ensured by the assent of Great Britain and the strength of the British fleet, but as the active champion in a common cause. This position has been strengthened by President Wilson's solemn disavowals of any aggressive intention. These promises have produced a marked impression in South America.
The war has brought into view another practical reason for a closer inter-American understanding. As long as the United States remained neutral, no other American state, such as Brazil, could have incurred the risk of entering the war. In the past, while South American countries were able to keep apart from European politics, this complication or hindrance was latent and remote. But the period of aloofness is closed, and the American republics are taking their place among the nations of the world. Some kind of permanent entente, some standing arrangement for exchanging views and adjusting policy, would seem to be the best means of obviating any friction or awkwardness between north and south in respect of external relations. Thus a closer understanding with the United States may be regarded as a necessary condition of closer relations with the rest of the world.