Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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THE EXPONENT 9 making further colonies in the New World. The Cleveland restatement came in 1895. Venezuela and Great Britain had been disputing the boundary be¬ tween Venezuela and British Guiana for sixty years. Now Venezuela was complaining of the rapacity of the powerful England and was begging our State Department for aid. Again and again we implored England to arbitrate, but in vain, for England replied that the dispute was not an affair of ours. However, the Ameri¬ can people thought that the Monroe Doctrine was our affair. We believed in the maintenance of the doctrine, which stated that the American Con¬ tinents were closed to further Euro¬ pean colonization. It was not until a suggestion of war reached England that the obdurate Lord Salisbury con¬ sented to arbitration. An interest in the Latin-American republics was revived by President Roosevelt’s extension of the Monroe Doctrine. Santo Domingo had be¬ come bankrupt through a series of revolutions. France, Italy, and Bel¬ gium threatened to collect by force the debts owed them unless the United States would guarantee the financial management of the republic. By the consent of the president of Santo Domingo, President Roosevelt negotiated a treaty, making the United States receiver for the re¬ public. By the efficient management of the United States the insolvency of Santo Domingo disappeared and her credit was reestablished. The most recent Latin-American affair is our intervention in Nicara¬ gua. The United States intervened mainly at the request of Nicaragua. We had formerly helped Cuba and Managua to set up governments and to hold elections. Now Nicaragua came with a request that we should aid her with the elections. The Sixth Pan-American Confer¬ ence has been held at Havana, Cuba, during the past winter. It settled two important questions and came to an understanding on a third problem. The first is the settlement of an air service between the two Americas: the second, a decision on the subject of immigration. A few of the Latin- American states proDosed that the United States should have free immi¬ gration. Much to the surprise of our delegates, Argentina allied herself with us, declaring that immigration was not a Pan-American affair but a domestic problem. The third prob¬ lem and the greatest concerns the doubt which arose among the Latin- American states as to our right in intervening in financial and political situations, and as to whether we were over-stepping the Monroe Doctrine. We must regard the South American standpoint, before we can continue and be able to justify ourselves in these acts. Felipe Berreda, Professor of Pan- American History in the University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru, wrote an interesting and exceedingly frank article in the Current History of March, 1928. The article stated the point of view of some of the South- Americans, although it does not seem possible that this could be the feeling of the entire group of republics. Both North and South America stress the words “European interference”, but in an entirely different sense. It is believed in South America that the Monroe Doctrine, as Monroe himself issued it, meant the protection of the two Americas against European in- v asion. Monroeism formerly meant continental freedom and civilization. Indeed, Monroeism and Pan-Ameri¬ canism were once complements to each other, but have grown to be an¬ tagonistic. Felipe Barreda says: “Pan-Americanism means freedom for all time from all danger of poli¬ tical or economic imperialism or slavery, not international guardian¬ ship or dictation. Pan-Americanism with which the old and genuine Mon¬ roe Doctrine is in perfect accord, cannot exist with Monroeism as it is interpreted today. To save Pan- Americanism from total destruction these suggestions are made: (1) The United States must return to the original and undistorted doctrine enunciated by President Monroe. (2) All the nations which form the Pan-American Union must adopt the principle of no political interference between themselves on any excuse whatever. They also must adopt the principle of no military enforcement of agreements or contracts, dealing with matters which do not fall within the scone of international law. (3) Every international conflict between two or more American states must be

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8 THE EXPONENT family, has proved himself such a lifter that today one of the leading political parties of the country con¬ siders him as its possible choice for the highest office in the land. Her¬ bert Hoover, unlike the self-educated governor of the state of New York, has had the advantage of a collej education. But, like Alfred Smith, he passed his early years in meagre circumstances and worked his way through college despite many ob¬ stacles. The lives of these two men show that from the ranks of the hum¬ ble and poor are recruited the men of ideals, the lifters, whose names live throughout the ages. Everyone has an inherent tenden¬ cy to be independent of others, to think and do things for himself. If developed this inclination becomes the characteristic of a lifter. To ful¬ fill one ' s part as a lifter in this world it is not necessary “to reach the heights by great men reached and kept.” Not to everyone is given the strength of mind and body required to go forth to battle against the armies of the enemy, the powers of the land, the sea, and the air, to paint elevating pictures, to write inspiring works, or to mould statues of life¬ like beauty. The names of many with almost unsurmountable physical difficulties are found on the register of the truly great. Helen Keller is a living example of one who is help¬ ing the world through sheer will power to be a better, happier place in which to live. And, after all, has not every man or woman who has been truly a lifter, not a leaner, made this world the better for having lived? Valedictory Classmates—At the close of our grammar school course you and I had for our motto “Lifters, Not Lean- ers . How much appreciation we had for our superintendent, our school board, and our townspeople when we entered this building—then just completed! Due to their com¬ bined efforts and financial generosity wc, the youth of Greenfield, had been given every opportunity to work amidst elevating surroundings. For our principal and his staff, who have worked unsparingly with us for four years, who have had an ever present desire to send us forth as “Lifters, not Leaners, our hearts are filled with gratitude. But gratitude. Classmates, is not enough. We must show our bene¬ factors the success of their efforts. Some of us will make a mark that all the world can see and praise. To everyone of us, in his own niche, is given the opportunity to make a mark that those nearest and dearest to him can recognize and appreciate. To everyone of us, in his own sphere, will come the opportunity to be a lifter, not a leaner. Julia Bulman ' 28 SALUTATORY To our parents and relatives, to our friends, and to the faculty, we, the Class of 1928, extend a sincere greeting on the occasion of our Class Day exercises. We have come to the end of our four high school years. Much gratitude and many thanks are due to the people of Greenfield, who have made it possible for us to obtain our education in such a fine building. To the teachers we are indebted for their kindness and patience. Now comes the parting of the ways. Each one of us will go forth to tempt the luck of the outside world, and to find his fortune there. We expect that this class will send forth artists, scientists, surgeons, aviators, business men, and other sorts of fine outstand¬ ing men and women. Especially we look for great statesmen who will aid us toward international peace and toward a closer friendship and alli¬ ance between The Two Americas The first relationship of the United States with the Central American and South American republics began with the Monroe Doctrine, which was issued in 1823. The Monroe Doc¬ trine was a message of James Monroe to Congress, expressing these two im¬ portant points: First, that the Amer¬ ican Cont inents were henceforth closed to colonization by any Europe¬ an power; and second, that any inter¬ ference with any republic in America recognized by us would be regarded as the manifestation of an unfriend¬ ly disposition toward the United States. This doctrine had no use in the early days except for the pre¬ vention of the European powers from

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10- . THE EXPONENT settled by the World Court.’’ Our answer to South America is simple. We have acted as a media¬ tor only when a boundary dispute might mean the extension of Europe¬ an colonization. We have intervened either when the states have asked us to help them, or it was evident that a European power would intervene if we did not. Although the United States is a powerful nation, it has no intention of entering the republics to stay. This has been proved by our withdrawals from Cuba, Porto Rico, and Nicaragua, when affairs had been settled in those states. Therefore, have we not upheld the Monroe Doc¬ trine and held ourselves within our rights? Can it be possible that the Latin-American states so little appre¬ ciate our aid? The Sixth Pan-American Confer¬ ence gave the two Americas a better understanding of each other. Espe¬ cially did it help the Southern re¬ publics to see our point of view. In¬ deed, we find many of the Latin- American statesmen using their elo¬ quence in our behalf, which shows their good-will toward us. May the peace relations and this better under¬ standing between the Americas con¬ tinue, so that there may be ever¬ lasting peace and, at length, the blending of the two for the progress of all science and culture. And may the American people be eternally mindful of and grateful to the “good¬ will ambassador”—Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh! Virginia Harper ’28 CLASS ORATION Friends Worthwhile What a wonderful blessing friends are! What marvelous foresight it was on the part of the Creator who made us all with an insatiable longing for friends. Friends—what does that word mean to us? I hope it means more than a circle of acquaintances with whom we happen to be a little more than we are with others. If we search from pole to pole, we shall find few things more beautiful than friendship. Love, the greatest thing in the world, is always, must of ne¬ cessity be, built upon a solid founda¬ tion of friendship. Can we imagine a world without friends? What an unbearable place this would be, if there were no one to share our joys or to lighten the burden of our sor¬ rows, no one to glory with us in suc¬ cess or to speak a word of sympathy or encouragement in times of failure! Friends, however, like many other things which we seem to take for granted, are all too frequently ne¬ glected. We seldom appreciate them as we should. Particularly do we ne¬ glect a class of friends in praise of whom I wish to say a few words — our book friends. Let us think of books as friends. Generally they provide merely a pleasant way of passing the time or a means of acquiring knowledge. But if we consider them as friends, they will afford us more pleasure and point the way to greater knowledge. Books are alive, just as much as human beings. Yes, even more so. Just as there is more to a man than the body of flesh and bone in which he lives, so there is more to a book than the cover and paper and ink with which it is printed. A book is a personality. That is the reason that many books— the Bible and Shakes¬ peare’s works, to mention two out¬ standing examples—have lived for innumerable years, and even centu¬ ries. Yet there are so many books to be read and so little time to read them that it is utterly impossible to do justice to the world’s literature. It will, therefore, pay us to select friends worthwhile. One reason why we have neglected our book friends may be that we are with people so much that we hardly think we need friends of another sort. There are times, however, when people are no comfort. Hasn’t everyone of us been with a crowd, and suddenly felt terribly alone? We say to ourselves, “I wish these peo¬ ple would clear out and leave me alone. No, I’d feel even worse alone.” It isn’t company we want; it isn’t solitude. What it is then? Compa¬ nionship? Ah, that’s it—companion¬ ship. Someone to whom we can just pour out everything that is bound up in our hearts. Then we realize that there is no one, no one whom we would care to tell even if we could. Yet we can find comfort when we feel like that; when human friends fail, try a book. Perhaps we shall find that certain characters appeal to us more than others.