Under the act approved May 31, 1938 the President appointed, on August 16, 1938, the Alaskan International Highway Commission. The Commission is authorized to cooperate and communicate directly with any similar agency in the Dominion of Canada in a study for the survey, location, and construction of a highway to connect the Pacific northwestern part of continental United States with British Columbia and the Yukon Territory in the Dominion of Canada, and the Territory of Alaska. The Commission is also authorized to cooperate with the Canadian Commission, established for the same purpose in December 1938, in the study of specifications, estimates, and plans for the financing of the construction and maintenance of such a highway.

The act also provided that the Commission, within two years after its appointment, should report to the President of the United States the extent and results of its activities and of any conferences relating to such highway and that the President of the United States should transmit said report to the Congress of the United States. The Commission's report was submitted to the President, under date of April 23, 1940, who in turn transmitted it to the Congress on April 26.

47

Under an act approved June 11, 1940 the life of the Commission was extended for a period of four years (54 Stat. 262).

An appropriation in the sum of $12,000 was made in Public Act 812, approved October 9, 1940, for the expenses of the Commission, fiscal year 1941 (54 Stat. 1044).

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF THE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS

(Reconstituted 1936)

Representative: Katharine F. Lenroot, LL. D., Chief, Children's Bureau, Department of Labor.

The Advisory Committee on Social Questions was formerly the Advisory Commission for the Protection and Welfare of Children and Young People.

In the new Advisory Committee, the number of members will be successively increased from 15 to 25. These members are appointed by governments which are invited by the Council of the League of Nations to nominate their representatives. If necessary, the Committee may also appoint one or more assessors chosen on personal grounds because of their special knowledge of the problem to be dealt with. The im

"H. Doc. 711, 76th Cong., 3d sess.

portant international associations interested in the Committee's work have the right to become corresponding associate members.

The Committee is mainly concerned with two important questionsthe campaign against the traffic in women and children, and child welfare. In connection with the first question, the Committee endeavors to induce governments to ratify conventions for the suppression of the traffic and deals with the abolition of the licensed brothel system, the employment of women police, and the suppression of obscene publications. In the domain of child welfare, the Committee studies every question concerning young people which the Council and Assembly of the League of Nations think suitable for international action. The Committee also studies the main solutions adopted for the general organization of child welfare, including social assistance with reference to the part played respectively by the authorities and by charitable organizations; the training of social workers; and the social aspects of the question of nutrition, particularly in rural districts.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFUGEES 48 (Resolution of the Intergovernmental Meeting on Political Refugees, Évian, France, July 14, 1938 ")

Offices: London, England.

American Member: Myron C. Taylor, LL.D., D.C.S., L.H.D., New York, New York; Ambassador on Special Mission; Chairman of the American Delegation to the Intergovernmental Committee; Vice Chairman of the Committee.

The Intergovernmental Committee on Political Refugees was created to facilitate the emigration from Germany (including Austria) of persons forced to emigrate because of their political opinions, religious beliefs, or racial origin and to facilitate the settlement of such persons in other parts of the world. It is designed to continue and to develop the work commenced by the Intergovernmental Meeting on Political Refugees held at Évian, France, in July 1938. The accomplishment of its task involves long-range planning whereby assistance to involuntary emigrants may be coordinated within the framework of existing immigration laws and practices of governments.

48

The Committee, which is a consultative body of 32 governments, met at Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic, from January 30 to February 3, 1941. The object of the meeting, among other things, was to mark the anniversary of the agreement for the settlement of refugees at Sosua.

49 See Conference Series 45.

The Committee is under the chairmanship of Earl Winterton. Its five Vice Chairmen represent the United States of America, France, Netherlands, Argentina, and Brazil. George Rublee, LL.D., of Washington, D.C., was Director of the Committee from August 3, 1938 to February 14, 1939, when he was succeeded by Sir Herbert Emerson. Sir Herbert Emerson performs the functions of Director of the Intergovernmental Committee and of the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but the two organizations are otherwise entirely separate and distinct.

The Committee, which meets whenever necessary, is supported by voluntary contributions of member governments allocated in accordance with the scale of contributions used by the International Labor Organization.50 On June 27, 1940 Congress continued available until June 30, 1941 the unexpended balance of the appropriations for the fiscal years 1939 and 1940 for the expenses of participation by the United States in the work of the Committee (54 Stat. 651).

INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION OF WOMEN

(Resolution of the Eighth International Conference of American States, 1938 1) United States Representative: Mary Nelson Winslow, of the District of Columbia.

The Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, Peru, 1938, recognizing the important part that women play in political and social organizations of the American republics and the desirability of having a permanent organization interested in the social development of American women, resolved that the Inter-American Commission of Women should continue its work. The Commission is charged with the permanent study "of all the problems concerning American women and shall act in an advisory capacity". It will report to the Governing Board of the Pan American Union on the problems concerning women which, in its judgment, should be considered at conferences of American states, and will advise future international conferences of American states so that they may promote the most adequate measures to improve the status of women.

60 See ante, p. 30.

51

See Conference Series 45. Resolutions on this subject were previously adopted by the Sixth International Conference of American States at Habana, Cuba, in 1928 (Report of the Delegates of the United States of America, published by the Government Printing Office), and by the Seventh International Conference of American States, at Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1933 (Conference Series 19 and 20).

The Inter-American Commission of Women held a three-day meeting at the Pan American Union, Washington, D.C., from November 11 to 13, 1940, which was attended by representatives of 13 countries of the Americas.

(Article 7 of the final act of the Conference of Wheat Exporting and Importing Countries, London, August 25, 1933 **)

Offices: London, England.

United States Delegate: Loyd V. Steere, Agricultural Attaché, American Embassy, London.

The Wheat Advisory Committee was established by article 7 of the final act of the Conference of Wheat Exporting and Importing Countries, signed at London by representatives of 22 countries on August 25, 1933.

The Committee consists of representatives of Argentina, Australia, Canada, Danubian countries, France, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom, United States of America, and, at times, other importing countries. In the past the Chairman has been the American Ambassador in London, or his designate. The Secretary has been Mr. A. Cairns, of Canada.

The purpose of the Committee originally was to watch over the working and application of the agreements comprising articles 1 to 6, inclusive, of the final act. Those agreements provided that the principal exporting countries would restrict their wheat exports during 1933-34 and 1934-35 and that the importing countries, parties to the agreement, would stop encouraging wheat-acreage expansion, would adopt measures to increase wheat consumption, and would undertake to lower import duties when the c.i.f. gold price on the world market exceeded 63.02 gold cents a bushel for a period of 16 weeks. During the first year these agreements were abandoned. Subsequently the Committee, through its permanent secretariat, has prepared statistical analyses of the world wheat situation for the benefit of participating governments. In all cases the Committee functions in an advisory capacity.

The Committee maintains its secretariat by means of contributions from the governments still participating. Contributions are proportional to base-period wheat production and, in addition, propor

52

See Conference Series 17, p. 18; 20, pp. 1, 8, 9, 17, 22, and 26; 23, pp. 10, 32, 39, and 49; 35, p. 11; 45, pp. 10, 56, 61, and 69.

53 See Treaty Information Bulletin 48, September 1933, pp. 18-28.

tional to base-period wheat exports from the wheat-exporting countries.

The last meetings sponsored by the Committee were held in London in August 1939.

Funds to pay the 1941 quota of the United States as a member of the Committee were contained in the "Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1941".

PERMANENT COMMITTEE OF HABANA

54

(Resolutions of the Sixth and Eighth International Conferences of American States, 1928 and 1938)

Offices: Habana, Cuba.

United States Member: Hessel Edward Yntema, Ph. D., S.J.D., Professor of Law, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Permanent Committee of Habana was established in accordance with a resolution of the Sixth International Conference of American States, which met at Habana, Cuba, in 1928. The Conference resolved that three permanent committees should be organized, one in Rio de Janeiro for the work relating to public international law; another in Montevideo for the work dealing with private international law; and another in Habana for the study of comparative legislation and the unification of legislation. The membership of these committees was originally confined to nationals of the countries where the committees were located.

The Eighth International Conference of American States, which met at Lima, Peru, in December 1938, adopted a resolution providing that the committees should be enlarged by adding to each committee six members who are not nationals of the country where each committee has its seat. The resolution further provided that the Pan American Union should establish the procedure by which the 18 additional members would be designated. Under the procedure adopted by the Union this Government was selected to be represented on the Habana Committee.

The principal duties of the Permanent Committee of Habana are to propose to the American governments the topics pertaining to local law which may appear to the Committee susceptible of new attempts at codification on this continent or which may serve as the basis for uniformity of legislation; to request the opinion of the govern

"See Report of the Delegates of the United States of America (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1928).

55 See Conference Series 45.