Arizona republican., 1906-07-23
WILL MEET
 WEDNESDAY,
Third PdR-AmeTiCdR Con-
 qr6SS at Rio JdR0irO
Review of A Achievements Of Two Preceding Sessions
 and Work of Present One.


 itaI at Rio Janeiro on Wednesday next will be one of the greatest trilogy of American family gatherings during the close of the past, and the beginning of the present century and is deCtined. in the opinion of publicists, to have a most important bearing on the future of the nations of the western hemisphere. Conceived in the mind of the~late Sec retary Blaine, the idea of bringing into close relations the different govern ments of North, Central and South America, had not only a sentimental and political, but also a business like side that at once attracted the atten- tion of Europe. For up to the early 90's.owing in large part to the diff culties of communication; to lack of cables; to the mutual absence of knowledge of the resources of the two continents of the western hemisphere, the commerce between North and South America had been insignificant in volume an dthe commercial nations of Europe were monopolizing the trade of Latin America.
 So to meet this condition and to eff feet anexchange of natural and manu- factured commodities to the mutual benefit of the countries of North, Central and South America, after many months of negotiations neces- sary to allay the jealousies of the les ser states, in october. 1889, representa- tives of all the republics of the three Americas gathered in Washington, and after a brief tour of the principal in dustTiaI cities of the country were called to order by Secretary Blaine to consider measures for the common. veal. Many important subjects were discussed during that conference;; in fact it has been thought that the pro gram was too pretentious. but sub stantial results were achieved. The survey for the intercontinental railway now making rapid strides toward com pletion, was inaugurated. Provision was made forsecurinE uniformity of customs regulations so far as the diff ferent business methods of the various countries would admit. The bureau of American republics was created and is now doing useful work. An advance was made towards general reciprocity though the project has even yet failed to reach frutiion. A monetary com mission was had with sensible benefit to the currency relations of the Ameri- can republics. The metric system moved ahead another step; being au- thorized in the customs service of the United States and other countries These were all valuable achievements. but there was more to be done and the conference recommended that the work be carried forward by another con gress.
 This second conference was held in the City of Mexico in 19O1-O2. while many of it's recommendations have not only been generally carried into ef- feet, this second gathering also was productive of good. What was accom- plished was this the approval of Guatemala, Salvador and Honduras of all the twenty-three instruments signed at The Hague, the approval Of the United States of the convention for the exchange of publications; the treaty Oh pecuniary claims and the scheme for the reorganization of the bureau of American republics, the ap-| prOval by several of the South and Central American nations of some of the most important of the treaties proposed by the second conference; subsequent congresses which. adopted regulations for the improvement of customs relations; sanitation of Am erican port cities and the regulation of the coffee growing industry. But this conference also left behind it unfinish- ed work hence the gathering at Rio today. The City of Mexico confer ference felt that the ten year period proposed by the original conference for the holding of such family gath erings was too long and proposed a five year period.
 So the Bio conference will open un- der the most promising auspices with the purpose of considering a program fully equal in importance to that which was laid before any of the preceding Injected into this program after 1t had been practically complet- ed at preliminary meeting of the in ternational committee held in Wash ington last winter, was one little ar ucle-IN-that is perhaps likely to give rise to more controversy and ex- cite more feeling and be generally of greater importance than any other article. This concerns the interesting Drago doctrine. itself an outgrowth of pr. Calvo's famous dictum. involving the right of a nation to use force in the collection from other nations of pub- lie debts. In the program this takes the form of the proposition to allow The Hague conference to determine this important question and as many of the South American debtor nations are bitterly opposed to allowing the creditor of Europe to pass upon this vital doctrine, a bitter discussion is expected when the subject comes be- fore the third conference.
 Reorganization of the bureau of American republics so as to greatly en- | large the usefulness of that institution is the very first article of the pro gram. It is proposed to erect a magni- l
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