The Union occupies and owns buildings and grounds in Washington representing an outlay of $1,100,000, of which Andrew Carnegie contributed $850,000 and the American republics $250,000. These buildings and grounds are dedicated forever to the use of the Pan American Union as an international organization.

The Pan American Union was founded in 1890, under the name of the International Bureau of American Republics, in accordance with the action of the First International Conference of American States, held in Washington in 1889-90 and presided over by James G. Blaine, then Secretary of State. It was reorganized in 1907 by action of the Third International Conference of American States, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1906. At the Fourth Conference, held in Buenos Aires in 1910, its name was changed from the International Bureau of American Republics to the Pan American Union. The Fifth Conference, held in Santiago, Chile, in 1923, the Sixth Conference, which met in Habana, Cuba, in 1928,2 the Seventh Conference, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1933 (Conference Series 19 and 20), and the Eighth Conference, held in Lima, Peru, in 1938 (Conference Series 45), considerably enlarged the activities of the Union. Other recent conferences which have given greater scope to the work of the Union are the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, 1936 (Conference Series 33 and 35), and the First and Second Meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Panamá, 1939 (Conference Series 49), and Habana, 1940.3

Congress first appropriated money for the contribution of the United States to the Union in 1890 (26 Stat. 275), and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941 the sum of $239,458.70 was appropriated by Congress to defray the cost of American participation in the activities of the Union (54 Stat. 187).

BUREAU OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION

(Established in 1888)

Offices: Geneva, Switzerland.

Organized groups of members of the legislative bodies of interested countries comprise the Interparliamentary Union. The Union was established in Paris, France, in October 1888 and had its first conference there in June 1889.

2

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

See ante, p. 1.

The purpose of the organization as stated in its statutes "is to unite in common action the members of all parliaments, constituted into National Groups, in order to secure the cooperation of their respective States in the firm establishment and the democratic development of the work of international peace and cooperation between nations by means of a universal organization of nations. Its object is also to study all questions of an international character suitable for settlement by parliamentary action." To this end the Union comprises seven permanent study commissions which deal with:

(1) Political and organizational questions;

(2) Economic and financial questions;

(3) Juridical questions;

(4) Ethnic and colonial questions;

(5) Reduction of armaments;

(6) Social and humanitarian questions;

(7) Phases of intellectual cooperation.

The organization of the Union starts with the national groups. Each group, limited to members of the parliament, possesses its own organization, with its bylaws, officers, and committees. Delegates from these groups make up the international conferences, where only they take part. The governing body of the Union since 1899 has been the council which is composed of two members from each national group. This body, which meets once a year or on the call of its president, fixes the agenda for the conferences; determines the time and place of the meetings; drafts the budget; nominates officers; and functions generally as a governing body. In 1908 a permanent chairman was provided for the council, to be assisted by an executive committee of five members, including the chairman. This committee prepares the work for the council and controls the central office. The central office is the Bureau of the Interparliamentary Union. It is this Bureau which deals directly with the groups.

The Bureau of the Interparliamentary Union is charged with the duties of keeping lists of the members of the national groups, and encouraging the creation of new groups; acting as the central office of national interparliamentary groups in all that concerns their mutual relations; preparing the questions to be submitted to the council and to the conferences and distributing the necessary documents; attending to the execution of the decisions of the council and of the conferences; and keeping the archives of the Union and collecting documents relating to international arbitration, and other documents regarding the objects of the Union.

Since the year 1911 the United States has contributed an annual sum toward the expenses of the Bureau. Funds for the first yearly

payment were provided by an act of Congress approved May 6, 1910 (36 Stat. 345). The United States by an act of Congress approved June 28, 1935 (49 Stat. 425), authorized an annual appropriation toward the maintenance of the Bureau. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941 the sum of $10,000 was appropriated by Congress to pay the quota of the United States (54 Stat. 187). The Congress did not make an appropriation for the expenses of the United States group as there was no conference in the 1941 fiscal year.

PAN AMERICAN SANITARY BUREAU'
(Established in 1902)

Offices: Washington, D. C.

The Pan American Sanitary Bureau is an independent international organization created pursuant to a resolution adopted at the Second International Conference of American States which met in Mexico City in 1901-2. Following the action taken at Mexico City, several conventions dealing with the Bureau have been concluded: the convention of October 14, 1905 (35 Stat. 2094); the Pan American Sanitary Code, November 14, 1924 (44 Stat. 2031); and the additional protocol of October 19, 1927 (45 Stat. 2613).

The Bureau is governed by a directing council composed of leading health experts of the American republics, who are elected by the Pan American sanitary conferences and serve ad honorem.

Although it has no organic connection with the Pan American Union, the Bureau cooperates closely with it and maintains its offices in the building of the Union.

The Bureau is the central coordinating agency for public health in the Western Hemisphere, especially with reference to quarantine measures applicable to aerial and maritime carriers in international commerce. Its functions are defined by the Pan American Sanitary Code, which was ratified by all the 21 American republics. The Bureau has appointed from time to time traveling representatives generally medical officers from national-health serviceswhose mission is to cooperate with the national-health authorities of the various countries, furnishing such technical assistance as may be desired. Sanitary engineers are also employed by the Bureau for cooperative work. The Bureau has published since 1922 a monthly bulletin with articles in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and

4

Formerly called the International Sanitary Bureau.

B See ante, p. 78.

occasionally in English. This journal is distributed gratis to health officers, physicians, nurses, hospitals, and other institutions interested in public health and preventive medicine, in some 3,600 towns throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The Bureau also publishes a weekly report of communicable diseases and other literature on sanitary subjects, and prepares the programs and publishes the proceedings of the Pan American sanitary conferences. Ten of these conferences have been held to date. The Bureau maintains a library with medical and public-health journals and literature from all Latin America.

Congress appropriated money for the first contribution of the United States to the International Sanitary Bureau in 1904 (33 Stat. 505); and under article 60 of the Sanitary Code authorized an annual appropriation to pay the contribution of this Government toward the expenses of the Bureau (44 Stat. 2031). Pursuant to a resolution of the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, held at Buenos Aires in 1936 (Conference Series 33 and 35), approving tentative plans for expansion of the work of the Bureau, the Tenth Pan American Sanitary Conference, held at Bogotá, Colombia, in 1939, adopted a resolution amending section 6, article 1, of the constitution and bylaws of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau to read as follows, subject to the approval of the governments members of the Bureau: "The Pan American Sanitary Bureau shall be provided with a fund of not less than $100,000 yearly, apportioned among the signatory Governments on the same basis as are the funds of the Pan American Union. (Article 60, Pan American Sanitary Code.) In order to facilitate the keeping of accounts the rate will be 40 cents American currency for every 1,000 inhabitants until increased by competent authority or changed by fluctuations in population in the respective countries." This Government's share in the increased budget is $58,522.75, and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941 this sum was appropriated by Congress for American participation in the activities of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (54 Stat. 187).

'See publication 129 of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (January 1939).

BUREAU OF THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION' (Established in 1934)

Offices: Bern, Switzerland.

The Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union was established pursuant to the provisions of article 17 of the telecommunication convention signed at Madrid on December 9, 1932 and effective in 1934 (Treaty Series 867; 49 Stat. 2391). It took the place of the International Bureau of the Telegraph Union, which was established in 1869 under the provisions of article LXI of the international telegraph convention signed at Vienna on July 21, 1868 (British and Foreign State Papers, vol. LIX, p. 322).

Under article 17 of the Madrid convention, the Bureau of the Union is charged with―

(1) Work preparatory to and following conferences, in which it is represented in an advisory capacity;

(2) Providing, in cooperation with the organizing administration involved, the secretariat of meetings of committees appointed by the Union or placed under the auspices of the latter;

(3) Issuing such publications as will be found generally useful between conferences;

(4) Publishing periodically a journal of information and documentation concerning telecommunications;

(5) Holding itself at all times at the disposal of the contracting

governments to furnish them with such opinions and information as they may need on questions concerning international telecommunications;

(6) Preparing an annual report on its activities to be communicated to all the members of the Union.

The foregoing functions of the Bureau are in addition to the work and operations provided for by the various articles of the convention and the regulations annexed thereto.

The Bureau is placed under the supervision of the Swiss Government, which regulates its organization, supervises its finances, makes the necessary advances, and audits the annual accounts.

'The Bureau is divided into two sections, one dealing with telephone and telegraph service and the other with radio service. Each section has a separate budget, and the adhering states contribute to the expenses of one or both depending upon their adherence to the separate regulations. The United States has adhered only to the radio regulations and therefore contributes only to the expenses of the radio section of the Bureau.