THE various nations of the western hemisphere have much in common as regards the manner of their birth, and all hold as their ideal a democratic form of government. It would seem on this account that there always should have existed a general sympathy and understanding between them. Undoubtedly this was so in the early decades of the last century, just after the United States had terminated her struggle for independence and when South America was battling for the same end. Many North Americans fought in the South American armies at that time.