WHEREAS: LXXV. QUALITY STANDARDS 1. The establishment of quality standards has for its fundamental purposes: (a) To create a system of classification of products which may facilitate purchase, sale and credit transactions by substituting a simple schematic system for the determination of qualities which is made at present through descriptions or through visual inspection of products or samples representing them; (b) To give opportunity to producers to appreciate the deficiencies of their products and thus endeavor to correct them, in order to obtain higher economic benefits; 2. The specification of qualities facilitates and improves national and international mercantile transactions and offers at the same time a greater guaranty to those who participate in such transactions; 3. It is undesirable to trade in fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, etc., which are only covered by trade-marks and which the farmer buys without having any accurate knowledge or guarantee of their ingredients; 4. Honest and responsible trading in seeds results in protection to the economic interests of the farmer and the success of agricultural production; 5. Commercial transactions are greatly facilitated by the standardization of containers and packing processes; The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture Resolves: To recommend to the Governments of the American nations: 1. That necessary measures be taken for the establishment of quality standards and systems of specifications for all natural or processed agricultural products, and that the quality standards thus established be applicable both to domestic and international trade. 2. That in order to facilitate the application of measures adopted with respect to quality standards and specifications thereof, there be created the corresponding services of inspection, classification, certification and arbitration. 3. That taking into consideration the standards and specifications adopted in each country, an effort be made by all nations of the Continent to adopt the same classification systems and approve uniform standards, and that to this end the Pan American Union be informed of what every country does in connection with this matter. 4. That the Pan American Union communicate to all other countries of the Continent the activities of each country in specification matters, and that whenever the Pan American Union considers it advisable or when so requested by several countries, the Union call a meeting to study quality specifications of products of agriculture and connected industries, with a view to the utilization of the results of their studies by all the countries of the Continent. 5. That at the rate that quality standards and specification systems are established for various products, and prior to the adoption of Continental standards through the intervention of the Pan American Union progress be made in this direction by studying the possibility of concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements looking to the gradual unification of the aforesaid specification systems and quality standardization. 6. That with special reference to wool, the classification standards now used by the United States of America and the United Kingdom be adopted. 7. That specifications be formulated and adopted for trade in fertilizers and control thereof, as well as on composition and minimum content for drugs, insecticides, fungicides and other materials used in the different branches of agricultural and livestock production. 8. That the standardization of containers and packing processes for agricultural and livestock products be effected as a necessary complement to obtaining the greatest benefit from standardization systems and quality specifications. 9. That insistence be made upon the considerations and recommendations approved under Recommendation XXVIII of the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture held at Hot Springs in May-June, 1943; as well as those in Resolution XLVI approved at the Chapultepec Conference on Problems of War and Peace held in Mexico City February-March of the current year, insofar as they refer to the study and establishment of standardization systems and quality specifications. LXXVI. PROTECTION AGAINST DISCRIMINATORY MEASURES IN COMMERCE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS WHEREAS: 1. A policy of discrimination has been followed in connection with certain agricultural products with the establishment of tariff and other measures by reason of the special quality of the said products or the country of origin thereof, as is true, for example, in the case of Habana tobacco; 2. Such a situation unjustly affects the production and consumption of such products, since they are discriminated against precisely because of their extraordinary quality, and if this policy should be continued the most valuable sources of production might in time disappear, The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture Resolves: To recommend that the Government of the American republics not hinder the consumption of agricultural products with discriminations based on their special quality or by reason of their country of origin. WHEREAS: LXXVII. TRANSPORTATION AND RATES 1. The development of transportation systems is an indispensable condition for the progress of agriculture in the countries of America and for raising the living standards of the agricultural class; 2. The level of transportation rates is one of the determining factors of the cost of agricultural production, The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture Resolves: To recommend to the American governments: 1. The encouragement and development of trunk communication systems (railroads, highways and waterways), avoiding as much as possible the establishment of ruinous competition between the various transportation systems. 2. The development of secondary and branch systems connected with trunk communication lines in order to broaden the zone of influence of the latter. 3. The construction of second- and third-class highways, in order to complement railway lines of communication, bearing in mind the fact that railway transportation is better adapted to the moving of large volumes and long distance hauling, while highway transportation in motor vehicles is better adapted to the handling of small volumes and short distance hauling. 4. The construction, as soon as possible, of double-track trunk railways, in order to increase the elasticity of the system and the average speed in railway transportation. 5. Study of the possibility of concluding agreements among the countries of America or the creation of shipping enterprises devoted to the transportation of products, both in continental traffic and extra-continental traffic, either by means of State contributions effected through financial institutions or by contributions of private capital on the part of business firms or cooperatives, or in mixed forms, etc.; an effort should be made, as far as possible, to have the contributions of capital be in proportion to the volume of exportable production of each country. 6. The desirability for the Pan American Union to make necessary representations to the Combined Shipping Board to the end of preventing all discriminatory treatment in the assignment of space which, after filling the war needs, might be available for the maritime transportation of agricultural products. 7. The promotion and development of coastwise transportation, as well as the appropriate fixing of rates, and the establishment of marine insurance in this type of transportation. 8. That a study be made of the possibility of using air transport for highly perishable agricultural products of great value per unit of weight and others of special types, and that to such end a determination be made of the producing areas and their productive capacity, the consuming centers and their consumption capacity, the probable cost of this form of transportation in relation to the production costs and retail prices at consuming centers, as well as the problem of obtaining cargoes for return loads, and that for this purpose a study be made of the possibilities of establishing special air routes and that efforts be intensified in the construction of airports, emergency landing fields and route markings. 9. That they also consider as fundamentally important for the development of production and consumption of perishable agricultural products, the promotion of air cargo transport enterprises, studying problems of concentration, tariffs and distribution which might arise in this connection, in order that this means of transportation may attain the maximum efficiency. 10. That in the preparation of transportation rates for agricultural and livestock products, the lowest rates possible should be fixed in order to give these products the maximum scope with respect to transportation, bearing in mind in any case the cost of the service and reasonable profit for the carriers. 11. That the State intervene in all cases involving the fixing of rates, in order to prevent the companies from taking advantage of their privileged position, bearing in mind that railroad transportation by private concerns frequently holds a position of monopoly owing to its special nature. 12. That systems of free competition be established in roads of the American countries which are of rural interest. 13. The collaboration as far as possible to the end that shipping companies, in preparing their schedule of rates, shall eliminate all discriminatory aims and take into consideration the distance to be traveled, in determining freight rates. 14. The carrying out of Resolutions XLVI and L of the Second Inter-American Conference on Agriculture held in Mexico City; Resolution XXIX of the United Nations Conference on Food and 73461847-11 Agriculture held at Hot Springs, and in the resolutions approved by the Chapultepec Conference on Problems of War and Peace as under number XLVIII, so far as these resolutions refer to transportation and rates for this service. LXXVIII. CONSTRUCTION and Improvement of MEANS OF COMMUNICATION WHEREAS: 1. The high cost of transportation is one of the determining factors which prevents or hinders agricultural and livestock production by increasing the price of agricultural products; 2. The mechanization of operations on the basis of cheap machinery is one of the factors which most favorably influences the construction and improvement of means of communication; 3. The majority of the American countries, especially those in the tropics, have not built efficient communication systems to facilitate the stabilization of reasonable freight rates, The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture Resolves: To recommend to the American governments the adoption of measures: 1. To intensify construction and improvement of means of communication of rural interest. 2. To mechanize the work of constructing and improving roads, in order to diminish the cost of the said work. 3. That the countries producing mechanical implements adopt measures to facilitate the export of such machinery to American countries needing it. WHEREAS: i LXXIX. POST-WAR IMMIGRATION 1. In the post-war period a large amount of immigration to America may begin once sea travel becomes regular, inasmuch as thousands of men will desire to leave countries tortured by six years of bloody conflict; 2. This human mass will be displaced by reasons of hunger, misery, and insecurity, rather than by causes arising from productive activity; 3. Such immigration currents may give rise to two phenomena: an oversupply of labor in countries with limited economy and resources, with the consequent risk of unemployment; and social processes of inadaptability; 4. It is acknowledged that the immigrant from all lands has been the necessary collaborator of the native element because of the |