Greetings to the Delegates to the 42d Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen:

On behalf of the Administration, it is my very great privilege, and my most pleasant duty, to welcome here the delegations from the Member nations of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, as well as all of their guests from other countries and representatives from the United Nations.

Believing as we do that there is no future for progress and civilization unless the conference table supplants the battleground as the arbiter of disputes, you can well understand the satisfaction of my associates and of myself that this meeting takes place in this Capitol of the United States of America.

Moreover, as we see it, there is a particular significance attaching to this particular kind of meeting. Most conferences are made up of appointed delegations representing the governments by which appointed, but only hopefully, and often only sketchily representing the peoples of the nation that that government controls.

Representative government is an expression of faith that free people can govern themselves. Consequently, since public opinion in a free country is the power and the force that gives validity to every proposal, the nearer we can come to bringing together the public opinions of nations, rather than merely their governmental representatives, the greater significance, and the greater importance should apply to such a meeting.

Parliaments, first instituted among men, long, long ago, are the symbol of public opinion. They are not only the symbol of that public opinion. They are the nearest approach we may make to bringing public opinion into one spot, crystallizing it and giving it expression--expression that we ourselves may understand, and that others may understand. Consequently, when the actual members of such parliaments meet together, it is not only a renewed expression of faith that free men can govern themselves, but that they understand that this system of government must necessarily be one whole throughout the world where people practice it. It cannot be separate, distinct, in any one nation.

To put it another way, it seems quite clear that free government could not possibly exist in any one nation alone. If any country, no matter how powerful, were an island of representative or free or democratic government, surrounded by dictators, it would soon wither and die away. It would, itself, have to become a dictatorship.

Consequently, I repeat, the stronger we can make this union among nations that choose to govern themselves, the more certainly will it exist in each of our nations, now and forever more.

For one who has had the task of helping to promote understanding among allies as they approached a military campaign and the battlefield I have often wondered why it is so difficult for nations to reach the kind of accord in peace that they are forced to reach in war.

Now, the cynic says it is because you use the word "forced," forced by a great fear to get together--in the words of an old sage of ours, "Hang together or hang separately." I refuse to admit that men cannot operate--free men--cannot operate as effectively on a constructive basis as they can when their sole purpose is the negative one of saving themselves from destruction.

And so, to each individual gathered here, I express, first, my satisfaction that you are here; secondly, my great faith that you can contribute something to this concept and this ideal of free government that is so dear to all of us; and thirdly, that in doing so you will have the satisfaction of knowing you are moving along the constructive road of progress, and not merely banding yourselves together to achieve only the defensive or negative concept of mere physical security. It is a great faith that must march forward. It cannot stand still.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to express to you the very great sense of distinction I feel personally--the great honor that I appreciate so deeply--in the invitation you have extended me to come here this morning.

Thank you.