Non-national Member of the Chilean - United States Commission: Oscar García Montes, of Cuba.

The additional protocol to the general convention of inter-American conciliation was signed at the Seventh International Conference of American States (Conference Series 19 and 20) at Montevideo, Uruguay, December 26, 1933, and was ratified by the President of the United States on June 29, 1934 (Treaty Series 887; 49 Stat. 3185). This protocol supplements the treaty to avoid or prevent conflicts between the American states, signed at the Fifth International Conference of American States on May 3, 1923 (Treaty Series 752; 44 Stat. 2527), and the convention of inter-American conciliation signed at Washington on January 5, 1929 (Treaty Series 780; 46 Stat. 2209). The additional protocol provides for the establishment of Permanent Commissions of Investigation and Conciliation. The Commissions, which are bilateral, are to consist of five members, each government designating two commissioners, one a national and the other a national of another American state. The two commissioners of each government will serve on all the bilateral commissions established under the protocol to which that government is a party, except that the nonnational commissioner may not serve as such on a commission with the country of which he is a citizen. The fifth member of each bilateral commission is to be chosen by the four commissioners already appointed, and his designation shall be confirmed by a simple exchange of notes between the respective governments. In the event that the governments are unable to agree upon a fifth member, the designation shall be made in the manner provided in article IV of the treaty to avoid or prevent conflicts between the American states, 1923. The Commissions will not function until the fifth member shall have been chosen. Dr. Helio Lobo, of Brazil, was elected fifth member of the United States - Dominican Commission on January 10, 1940.

PANEL OF MEDIATORS

(Inter-American treaty on good offices and mediation, 1936 59)

Members for the United States:

Norman H. Davis, D.C.L., LL.D., Washington, D. C.;

Henry L. Stimson, LL.D., New York, New York.40

The inter-American treaty on good offices and mediation was signed at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace (Con

"Treaty Series 925; 51 Stat. 90.

40 Appointed Secretary of War on July 10, 1940.

ference Series 33 and 35) at Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 23, 1936 and ratified by the President of the United States on July 15, 1937. The treaty provides that the contracting parties, when a controversy arises between them which cannot be settled by the usual diplomatic means, may have recourse to the good offices or mediation. of a person eminent in the affairs of any of the other American countries. To this end, the treaty further provides for the creation of a permanent panel of mediators, each country to select two members from among its most distinguished citizens.

INTERNATIONAL SUGAR COUNCIL

(Established by the international agreement regarding the regulation of production and marketing of sugar, 1937 “1)

Offices: London, England.

Delegates of the United States to the Council:

Herschel V. Johnson, Minister Counselor, American Embassy, London;

Loyd V. Steere, Agricultural Attaché, American Embassy, London. Representative of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on the Delegation of the United States to the Council: Joaquin M. Elizalde, Philippine Resident Commissioner to the United States.

The International Sugar Council was established by the international agreement regarding the regulation of production and marketing of sugar, signed at London, May 6, 1937, and is charged with the administration of the agreement. It is composed of delegates representing the governments which are parties to the agreement.

Under the agreement, 17 exporting countries and the Commonwealth of the Philippines agreed to limit their exports of sugar to the socalled "world-free market", i.e. to territories in which these exports do not receive preferential tariff treatment, and to regulate their production so that the stocks of sugar in each country shall not, on a fixed date in each year, exceed specified proportions. The agreement established a basic free-market export quota for each of these countries. Four importing countries, namely, China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, also signed the agreement, with power to cast a total of 45 votes in the Council as compared with 55 votes distributed among the exporting countries—some deci

“IV Treaties, etc., Between the United States and Other Powers, 1923-37 (Trenwith, 1938).

sions of the Council require three fifths or three fourths of the vote

cast.

The Council has power to allot additional export quotas to all the countries concerned, the additional quotas for each country being proportional to the basic quota for that country, and to redistribute export quotas or parts of quotas which may not be used by any exporting country in any quota-year among the other exporting countries. It is also the duty of the Council to estimate, at least 20 days before the beginning of each quota-year, the requirements of consumption of the free market for that year; to determine the conditions on which other governments may accede to the agreement, including the number of votes in the Council which shall be allotted to each such government; to consider any complaints of non-compliance with the obligations of the agreement; to consider applications of any government to withdraw from the agreement; and to make studies as to forms of state assistance to sugar production, fiscal burdens on sugar, and efforts to promote increased consumption and new alternative uses for sugar.

The Council meets at least once a year and may be convened at any time by its Chairman on not less than 20 days' advance notice.

The Council maintains a secretariat with offices in London. It publishes a bulletin of sugar statistics.

The contribution which the United States of America makes to the Council is paid from funds available to the Department of Agriculture.

PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY ORGANIZATIONS

(Convention on the Pan American Highway, signed at Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 23, 1936 12)

American Member of the Commission of Technical Experts: Thomas Harris MacDonald, Commissioner, Public Roads Administration, Federal Works Agency.

American Member of the Financial Committee: John Van Ness Philip, Claverack, New York.

Information Office: Public Roads Administration, Federal Works Agency.

The convention on the Pan American Highway was concluded during the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace

(Conference Series 33 and 35), which was held at Buenos Aires, Argentina, from December 1 to December 23, 1936. The convention provided for a Commission of Technical Experts charged with the responsibility of coordinating the work of the different governments and of undertaking the studies necessary for the completion of the proposed highway. It also provided for a Financial Committee to review financial problems involved in the completion of the highway and to submit a detailed report for the consideration of the governments, accompanied by a plan for the solution of said problems. The Financial Committee is composed of representatives of Mexico, Nicaragua, and the United States of America, which were the first three countries to ratify the convention.

Each of the ratifying governments is bound under the agreement to designate a permanent office to make available to the public, information concerning the progress of construction, sections of the highway which are passable, local transit regulations, and all other information which tourists may require.

The Financial Committee prepared two reports which were transmitted to the governments members of the Pan American Union, for observation and suggestion, and submitted a report on the subject "Suggested Plans for Financing the Pan American Highway" to the general secretary of the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, Peru, which referred the matter to the president of the organizing commission of the Third Pan American Highway Conference, Santiago, Chile. 43

The Lima Conference adopted a resolution recommending that the governments make available to the Financial Committee the material necessary to enable the Committee to draw up a specific recommendation as to the most effective manner in which the completion of the Pan American Highway may be financed. At the same time, the Third Pan American Highway Conference was requested to consider the several plans that have been suggested for financing the highway. In accordance with the conclusions reached by the Santiago Highway Conference, the Financial Committee, on February 15, 1940, signed a report which was transmitted to the governments, suggesting the possibility of the creation of a Pan American Highway Finance Authority. On the basis of the replies received the Committee will make further studies with reference to the means of financing the construction of the road. This problem has become somewhat less important since the Export-Import Bank, on the recommendation of the Department of State, has been extending separate credits to various countries at their request to help in the financing of their sections of the highway.

See Conference Series 45.

A resolution was passed by the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Habana, 1940,** recommending that the Financial Committee study the advisability of allocating the total cost of the highway in proportion to the economic capacity of the nations linked by it; their populations and revenues; the length of the highway in each country; and the benefits derived by each nation from the highway. This resolution also recommended that the Committee take into account the right of nations which had constructed all or part of their respective sections to have the estimated value of the work completed by them accepted as all or part of the contribution which would be allocated to them as their share in the total cost of the highway. It was further recommended that the Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee 45 collaborate fully with the Pan American Highway Financial Committee.

Congress, by an act approved July 20, 1939 (53 Stat. 1071), appropriated a sum not to exceed $1,500,000 to meet such expenses as the President in his discretion might deem necessary to enable the United States to cooperate with the Republic of Panama in connection with the construction of a highway between Chorrera and Rio Hato in the Republic of Panama. For the same section of the Pan American Highway, the Export-Import Bank of Washington has approved an extension of credit to the National Bank of Panama and to the Panamanian Government in the amount of $2,500,000. The Export-Import Bank has also extended credits to finance the construction of portions of the Pan American Highway in Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

ALASKAN INTERNATIONAL HIGHWAY COMMISSION

(Public Act 564 of May 31, 1938 ")

American Commissioners:

Warren G. Magnuson, of Washington, Member of the House of Representatives, Chairman;

James W. Carey, of Washington;

Ernest H. Gruening, M.D., Governor of Alaska;

Donald MacDonald, of Alaska;

Thomas Riggs, of New York.

"See ante, p. 1.

For an account of the origin and functions of the Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee, see post, p. 61.