ABOUT twenty-five years ago, as the Venezuelan boundary question was looming large on the horizon, a man then eminent in the business world asked me to tell him in five minutes what the Monroe Doctrine meant. He explained that he made his inquiry in that precise form because he had just five minutes to give to the subject, and no more. I promptly replied that I probably could answer his question more effectively in five seconds than I could in five minutes, since, if I really began to talk on the subject, I might consume five hours; but that I would at once say, without further loss of time, that the Monroe Doctrine meant "America for the Americans." Perhaps I also added that this sententious phrase was to be interpreted in a political and not in an economic sense.