Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-28

4L&EI tIOnal Bureau of the Anerl-
Id VA can Republics will be opened.
lA. 5I Should any one of these prove
sssssz4@z=J acceptable, work will begin
at once. and in the imposing
mass of stone which will house the bu-
reau next season q most interesting
! chapter In International history will
find permanent memorial and the spirit
of good fellowship between the leading
American republics be fittingly crystal
lized. This edlflce will be one of the
most unusal and interesting in the his
tory of all the world. the one nearest
like it in object being the Temple OF
Peace. now under construction at The
Hague.
The building when completed ready
for occupancy viii haze cost $1,000 GOO.
OF this $4,000 was given by Mr.. Car
negie. and $3.50, 900 by the different
American countries represented In the
bureau. 1t will be situated on the
famous Van Ness tract of, land. on the
corner of Seventeenth and B streets,
Washington, facing the White House
on the east and Potomac park on the
south. One hundred and thirty OF the
leading architects of North America
entered designs in the contest, and the
winners We're Albert Kelsey and Paul
Gret. associate architects of Philadel-
phia. Since twenty of the twenty-one
American republics are of Latin origin,
the general style will suggest Latin
American treatment, and at the same
time it will harmonize with the general
tone of architecture that Is symbolical
of the newer Washington and has found
its latest verification in the Corcoran
art gallery, the municipal buildings and
the union station.
n-American influence in the arch
itecture finds it's most typical express
sion in the patio over fifty feet square
which occupies the central part of the
front section. This will be rooted over
in winter With glass. but in summer will
be open. while all the year round the
splashng of fountains and the breath
of tropical flowers win suggest the AL
hambra of long ago and remote Moor
ish influences in Spain. Spanish stucco
finish and Spanish tiled roof will COM
plete the Latin-American effect, while
the wood work for the interior will be
from woods characteristic of the vari-
Gus republics.
Well lighted offices for the director
of the bureau and his staff will open off
the patio, and at one end will be the
great assembly chamber. which Is dig
nified by the name of THE Hall of the
American Ambassadors the only room
of its kind ever built especially for
international conventions and social
events Committee rooms will be set
aside for important conferences and the
Columbus memorial library will be in
stalled i'm stack rooms accommodating
250, 900 volumes, while reading room,
where will be found the publications
from every one of the American repub-
lies, will occupy considerable space and
be held open as a special comforter to
homesck guests from the far SOUTH or
for reference for the public in general.
The International Bureau of the
American Republics, sometimes called
the Pan-American bureau, is an institu-
tion that Is seventeen and a half years
old 1t was organized in answer to the
wish that American republics become
better acquainted with each other. The
first great object of the bureau is to
develop commerce and trade between
the United States and the Latin-Ameri-
can countries. while of hardly less i'm
portance is the determination to pro-
mote closer relations along intellectual
educational and social lines. A great
international clearing house on ques-
tions of trade and commerce. scientific
research and travel. the bureau in its
work practically promotes the indus
tries of II 1881 .924 square miles of ter
ritory. and increases the commercial
and educational interests of 149,027, ,039
American people.
A staff of clerks, stenographers and
translators is kept busy in the present
quarters of the bureau. They answer
a thousand and one queries that each
mail brings, and get out 10000 bulletins
each month containing statistical IN
formation in regard to the trade, COM
merce and industrial development OF the
twenty -one American republics. They
compile handbooks on each country,
publish pamphlets and circulars rela-
tive to tariff mining, immigration and
land laws. and keep manufacturers
posted in regard to the possibilities for
their wares in various fields. In the
year 1906 the bureau received 1000 let
ters of inquiry; in 1907 1t received 27,00O,
a comparison that shows admirably the
growth of the work Ten years ago the
trade of the United States with its
American neighbors amounted to only
a third of a billion dollars. Compare
this with last years trade of billion
dollars and allow the Bureau of the
American Republics a goodly share of
credit for the phenomenal increase.
Tourists or business men going to
any of the republics in Central or
South America appeal to the bureau for
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