The situation as to the obligations of foreign governments is presented in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances annually. 4. Superintendent of the State, War, and Navy Department Buildings The office of Superintendent of the State, War, and Navy Department Buildings operates independently of the State, War, and Navy Departments, under a commission composed of the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy, for the maintenance, operation, and protection of said buildings and various others. This responsibility includes care of the grounds, heating, lighting, repairing, altering, and cleaning the buildings, and embraces jurisdiction over the forces provided therefor. 5. American Battle Monuments Commission This commission was created by the Act of March 4, 1923, to prepare plans for, and to erect, suitable memorials to mark and commemorate the services of United States forces in Europe. The commission also has the duty of photographing the European battlefields upon which American forces were engaged, for the purpose of completing military historical records. Co-operation with states, municipalities, associations, and citizens desiring to erect war memorials in Europe is expected, when plans for such memorials have been approved by the commission in accordance with its organic act. The commission may receive funds from any source, private or governmental, to carry on its work. It may also sell replicas of any memorial, or part of a memorial, applying the proceeds thereof to its purposes. 6. Commission on Navy Yards and Naval Stations The Commission on Navy Yards and Naval Stations was created by the President to carry out the provisions of the Act of August 29, 1916,5 in relation to the establishment of navy yards, naval stations, and submarine and aviation bases. 3 Seé extracts in pamphlet form, entitled "Obligations of Foreign Governments," 1922; "World War Foreign Debt Commission and Obligations of Foreign Governments," 1923; Same, 1924-obtainable from Superintendent of Documents. 1. Mission CHAPTER 83 PAN-AMERICAN UNION The Pan-American Union is the official international organization of all the republics of the Western Hemisphere, founded and maintained by them for the purpose of exchanging mutually useful information, and fostering commerce, intercourse, friendship, and peace. 2. History 1 The International Union of American Republics, "for the prompt collection and distribution of commercial data and information," was organized in accordance with a recommendation of the First International Conference of American States, which recommendation was approved March 29, 1890. It was provided that the union should be represented at Washington by "the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics," with an organ of publicity in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, the four languages current in the United States and Latin America. The sum of $36,000 was advanced by the United States government for expenses, to be reimbursed by the other republics by quotas based upon population. In accordance with the report or fundamental charter, the bureau was under the direct control of the Secretary of State of the United States. In practice, it was found that this provision of the charter to a large extent nullified the international character of the bureau, as intended by the First Conference. On April 1, 1896, the Secretary of State of the United States called a meeting of the diplomatic representatives, at Washington, of the countries composing the bureau, at which meeting a committee was selected to draft a reorganization plan. On June 4, 1896, the committee reported, recommending the creation of an executive committee of five members, the chairman to be the Secretary of State of the United States, and the four other members to be selected in rotation from the Latin-American countries. This reorganization became the first modification of the organic charter. On March 18, 1899, at a meeting of the diplomatic representatives of the member countries, a further enlargement of the plan of the original charter was agreed upon. The executive committee, consisting of the Secretary of State of the United States as ex officio chairman, and four representatives of the LatinAmerican countries (the four to be chosen in rotation from all the countries composing the bureau), in addition to having advisory powers, was given the power to appoint the Director, Secretary, and permanent translators of the bureau, to fix their salaries, and to dismiss them whenever it seemed advisable so 1 "Pan-American Union," a pamphlet issued by the Director General of the PanAmerican Union. |