The Green Forest tribune., 1916-09-29

Daughters of the Amerl-
 WMFT can Revolution, is what
 many judges of the fine ih architecture have declared to be the most beautiful building in the capltai of the United States. It is the home of the Pan-American union, Of when John Barrett is the director general.
 In this building every little while there is a meeting which has no coun- terpart in any other country of the world. In beautiful hall and about a magnificent table made of South American woods gather the ambasSa- dors and ministers of all the American republics. The secretary of state of the United States of America presides at the meeting.
 In foreign countries a few diplo- mats sometimes meet to discuss mat ters of grave moment to their coun- tries. There is no general meeting such as that which takes place in the city of Washington. Only on the rarest occasions in the European capitals do the representatives of all the coun- tries gather for cOnclave. The threat of war generally brings the foreign representative together in most of the capitals of the world.
 In the city of Washington, in the Pan-American union building, the ambassadors and ministers of the South American countries meet to con fer with one another and with the secretary of state of the United States on subjects of peace and amity and in the endeavor to make stronger the bonds of union which hold together all the republics of the West
 The Pan-American union was or- ganiZed 26 years ago. In that year there was Pan-American conference following q former conference which was held in Washington in the winter of the year previous. James c. Blaine, then secretary of state, presided at the first conference. To Blaine per haps more than to any other American is due the credit for the inception of the idea of an organization which would bind closely together the west ern republics. For a long time the organization was known as the "Bu- reau of American Republics"
 In writing about Pan-Americanism and the Pan-American union, John Barrett, the present. directar. said idl,~----
 'Beginning on a small scale, it has now grown into position of power and usefulness where it can be de- Scribed as the most comprehensive and practical international institution at least it has been so described by eminent statesmen not only in the United States, but in Europe. AS evi- dence of the way It is regarded in Eu- rope. 1t can be cited that recently one of the most prominent English states men remarked that, If there had been n European union, fashioned upon the Pan-American union at Washing ton. with its headquarters in London, or Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna, there never would have been European war"
 The present home of the Pan-Ameri. can union was built in the years 1908 O9. The corner stone was laid in the spring of 1908 in the presence of 5000 persons, among whom were the mem bers of the Supreme court, the cabinet the house and senate, the diplomatic corps and President Roosevelt, Sec retary of State Root, Bishop Gran ston of the Methodist church, Cardina Gibbons of the Roman Catholic churcl and Andrew Carnegie, the latter o whom made the Pan-American untol building possible by the gift of larg sum of money.
 One gets from what Elihu Root sai' on the occasion of the laying of tn corner stone an idea of the scope O the work of the institution and of tn spirit which keeps it alive.
 MT. Root said: "This building is t he in its most manifest utilitarian serH } ice. convenient instrument for assC citation and growth of mutual know edge among the people of the differen republics. The library maintaine | here, the books and journals acce' sible here, the useful and interestin publications of the bureau, the eno nous correspondence carried on wit seekers for knowledge about Amer , can countries, the opportunities no