Evening star., 1907-11-09
AM ERICAN REPUBLICS
FIRST FALL MEETING OF GOV
ERNING BOARD.
Held Yesterday Afternoon-Repor
of Director Barrett Submitted.
Vote of Thanks Given Him.

/ The governing board of the interna
tional bureau OF American republics
| consisting OF the diplomatic representa-
| tives in Washington of all the Latin
| American governments. and presided
| over by the Secretary Of State OF the
/ United States, who Is chairman ex Of
hcio, held its first regular meeting of the
| fall yesterday afternoon in the diplo
matte room of the State Department. II
| the unavoidable absence Of Secretar,
Root. Assistant Secretary Bacon acted
as chairman. \ majority of the Latin
American diplomats in Washington were
| present The principal business before
the meeting was to hear the annual re-
port of Director Barrett Befor, the
meeting adjourned Mr.. Ignacio Calderon
| minister of Bolivia. made motion
| which was seconded by Mr.. Luis F. Co
| rea. minister Of Nicaragua and passed
| unanimously. that Mr.. Barrett should b
given a vote of thanks for his success
| full administration of the bureau since he
was g ected director. and for the work h
| had done to reorgauiza and build up tn.
| bureau on the lines planned by the Ric
| de Janeiro conference of 1906. Ths
principal points brought out IN Director
Barrett's report are summarized as fol
| lows:
Summary Of Report.
| The plans and specifications of the ar
chtects for the new building OF the in
| ternational bureau, for which Mr. Car
| negie gave $3.50 Ooo and the various gov
arnments contributed s250,OOO making a
| total of 81 900 900 available will be ready
for the inspection of contractors submit
ing estimates on December Is. Actual
work shOuld begin carly in January. 1908
and the foundations should be in by
April. when the weather conditions will
favor an appropriate ceremony for the
laying of the corner stone. 1t is hoped
that the building Will be completed eX-
cept for interior decoration, by February
l. 1909.
The exhibit of the bureau at the James
town exposition Is the best ever prepared
by the bureau. and has proved popular
among the visitors to the exposition. An
average of thousand people a day have
passed through its rooms. and thousands
of pamphlets descriptive of Latin
America have been distributed with q
result that large numbers of ihghiries
about the commerce and trade Of that
section of the world have been directed
TO the bureau for answer.
The monthly bulletin of the bureau has
been much improved by the introduction
of regular editorial summary of it's
features the use of appropriate photo
graphs, the omission of useless statsti-
cal matter, and the putting in more read
able form all official commercial reports
and data so that its popularity and cir
cu.ation have been greatly increased.
Many other changes have been cOntem-
plated, which will be inaugurated as
soon as the facilities of the bureau per-
NIT. Many special publications have been
issued. including pamphlets descriptive of
different countries of Latin-America and
the second volume of American constitu-
tions.
Correspondence Bureau.
The general correspondence of the bu-
reau has grown all out of proportion to
the capacity of the bureau, until now 1t
approximates two thousand letters OF le-
gtimate inquiry received and answered
every month AS a result OF the informa
ton provided by the bureau and It's rec
concentrations, over one hundred Amer
previously had given no attention to Latin
America, have decided to enter that field
Numerous universities and colleges have
moreover decided to take up the study OF
Latin American history and progress and
of the Spanish and Portuguese languages.
in consequence Of the cooperation of the
bureau Large numbers of tourists and
travellers. who heretofore have only gone
to Europe or Asia. have been Influenced to
visit Latin America by da ia furnished by
the bureau 1t will be impossible. how
ever. for the office to achieve it's full eff
cheney until the staff is increased by the
addition of number of eXperts. Popular
interest in Latin America isffurt her shown
by the fact that the director has received
over three hundred invitations to deliver
addresses before hambers of commerce.
boards OF trade, universities and other or
ganizations throughout the United States
during the past year
The report points out specific plans for
the enlargement OF the scope and work of
the bureau. so that IL can carry out the
numerous important resolutions passed by
the third Pan-American conference, tn
Guiding the esta blishment of a special
section of commerce. customs and COM
mercial statistics: the investigation of the
monetary systems of different countries
their natural resources. projected public
works. regulations and laws for granting
concessions. plans for the Pan American
railway and the assistance to be given by
the different governments. the importance
Of steamship facilities between the United
States and her sister republics and the
establishment of closer relations along
educational and social as we'll as ma
teriaf lines
Third Sanitary Conference