You have come to this country with the assurance, often reiterated and
always received with applause, of close and sincere brotherly feeling
between our two countries, the permanence of which is guaranteed by our
common ideals and our mutual respect.
Your mission challenges our warmest sympathy. Voices more authoritative
than mine have informed you of this fact, and the attitude of the
Mexican people is its corroboration. You have been the apostle of a
grand idea, the most vital, perhaps, of any affecting the international
politics of this continent and assuredly the only one capable of
harmonizing the interests and the hearts of all the inhabitants of the
New World. This idea consists in laying down, as the invariable basis
for the relations of the countries of America with one another, the
sacred principles of justice, and the territorial integrity of each one
of them.
Such being the pledge which we have from your lips, and feeling
confident that the immense majority of your countrymen endorse the
declaration to that effect made by you during your memorable journey of
last year, and during the journey that is now in progress, we welcome
you as one welcomes a loyal and disinterested friend, without the mental
reservation that one sometimes feels in clasping the hand of the great,
and moved by the hope of thus contributing, in the best manner possible,
to us, towards the realization of an aim that is commended by a high and
enlightened patriotism.
Mexico's course for the future is clearly marked out, at any rate as far
as human foresight can safely reach. Her geographical situation and the
conditions governing the international politics of America assure her,
as long as the views which you have proclaimed with a conviction so
sincere, predominate in your country, the tranquillity in her
international relations which she needs in order to devote herself to
intellectual culture and to the development of her abundant and varied
natural resources, while at the same time offering hospitality to all
well-meaning persons who bring here their contingent of industry and
civilization. With a program such as this, it has been easy--and will be
still more easy in the future--to regulate our conduct towards you, the
citizens of the great nation beyond the Rio Grande. You will always be
welcome, as it is right and proper that useful and agreeable neighbors
who give proofs of their desire to be on good terms and to cooperate in
all of the works of progress, should be; and I believe that you are
quite convinced that both out of interest and good-will, the Mexican
people will offer you every facility that may enable you to take an
active part in the social and economic development of this republic.
It is far from my thoughts, at the present moment, to extol the virtues
and the good qualities of my countrymen. I may be permitted, however, as
a minister of finance, to say a few words in regard to one or two
economic facts that have an important bearing on business relations.
Mexico, at the present time, as you well know, is not a country
exclusively engaged in mining and farming, but also carries on an
extensive commerce and possesses fairly prosperous manufacturing
industries. There are many lines of activity demanding industry,
intelligence, and capital, and there is an ample field for the
utilization of all elements of that nature coming to us from abroad. But
a point which all persons interested in Mexico's business affairs will
do well to realize is the honesty and prudent habits which characterize
mercantile transactions in this country. "Booms" and "bluffs" are exotic
plants which can with difficulty be acclimatized here, and speculative
combinations rarely enter into the calculations of the merchant.
A single example will suffice to illustrate the characteristics to which
I am referring. In that period of stress from 1892 to 1894 when the
country, after suffering the loss of several harvests in succession and
the ravages of a severe epidemic, was further tried by sudden
depreciation of silver, which in the course of a few months cut the gold
value of our currency in half, every one thought that the economic
constitution of the nation would not be able to withstand shocks so
repeated and formidable; and yet we continued to meet our debts with
religious punctuality and it was noted with surprise that not a single
failure of importance occurred in any part of the republic.
We may be charged with undue timidity, with slender experience, in
certain methods that are common elsewhere in the initiation of business
undertaking. But these deficiencies and others which no doubt are ours
will not debar us, let us hope, from being permitted to join the grand
onward march of humanity, and particularly of that portion of the human
family inhabiting the New World, towards higher conditions of physical
and moral welfare.
Gentlemen, let us raise our glasses to the health and happiness of our
distinguished guest and his most estimable family. Let us drink to the
hope that his countrymen, taking to heart the gospel which he has
proclaimed throughout the length and width of America, may become the
firmest guarantors of lasting peace between the two nations,
consolidated by warmth of mutual regard and the continued growth of
common interests.