Remarks Following the Dedication of Falcon Dam.

My friends:

May I first say that I deeply regret that there was not room out on that Dam to accommodate all the visitors who attended this historic event. But, by your coming, by your patience, even though you could not go out on the Dam, you demonstrated your understanding of what was really taking place today: the forging of another indestructible link in the friendship of two countries.

I do not intend, my friends, to keep you long today, but I would like to give you some idea of how firmly I believe in the necessity of international friendship.

If friendship does not replace the hostilities of the world, if the conference table does not displace the battlefield as the place where we shall settle our disputes, then civilization as we know it indeed has a meager future.

But if we build friendships--friendships that mean an attempt to understand the other fellow, to approach his problem sympathetically, and with the determination that he shall be helped just as much as we can in the solution of that problem, then we are going to make progress toward a future brighter than any civilization has known.

You young people--you young people still own, let us say, 60 years of our country--far more than I do. If I am lucky I still own about 15--and I have to be lucky. But you own America, you young people, and don't let anyone tell you that people have to be enemies.

Now, here today, if you can establish one new link of friendship with our nearest neighbors, you have made progress toward a future that you can turn over to your children with pride and confidence.

And so I say again, I am proud of you for coming out today in spite of the heat and the inconvenience, and the impossibility of getting out there to visit with the President of Mexico, and to hear the bands. You came--showing that you understood what this means. I am so proud of you, that if I don't go, I am going to get maudlin.

Thank you a lot.