in the details of the problems which would arise, but he knew that
the ultimate responsibility for this mission lay on his shoulders.
It was a ponderous responsibility, coming so soon after the
humiliating failure of the London Monetary and Economic
Conference.

We were due at Montevideo the following morning. Mr. Hull
had invited me to have a chat in his cabin before dinner, as I
wanted to ask him some last-minute questions concerning the con-
ference we were about to enter. Questions and answers did not
last long, and the Secretary launched into an impromptu discus-
sion of the state of the world, which was obviously preying on his
mind. His simple and unaffected analysis of the world's difficulties
made such an impression on me that I am able, even at this dis-
tance in time, space, and political development, to recall almost
his exact words. They ran about as follows:

" Europe is finished. You and I will hardly live to see the day
when Europe will be able to drag itself out of the pit it is now
digging. The race of political and economic nationalism which
has started in Europe will have to be run to its conclusion--to the
impoverishment of its inhabitants--whether or not there is actual
war.

"In our own interest, we must look to our relations with these
countries down here. Among the Americas we may be able to
find the answer. We ought to be able to work out a pattern of
life which will inspire the whole world to follow our example
when the present tumult dies down. Remember, we may not have
as great a past as Europe, but we have a greater future."

These and other accurate predictions that Hull made privately
and publicly at that time went unheeded. Adolf Hitler had been
Chancellor of the German Reich for only six months. The
Reichstag had just voted him the full powers with which he was
to stamp out democratic life in Germany and in much of the
world. Hitler was not feared in the outside world then as he
came to be in succeeding years.

Hull himself was not concerned with Hitler or with any single
individual. He saw, as few of us did at that time, that ideas were
afloat in the world which gave promise of throwing all civiliza-
tion back to the tribal life of the Dark Ages. He was more inter-
ested in the motif of the opera than he was in the performances

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