The Second Pan-American Con ference, or properly the Second International Conference of the American States, was called, at the suggestion of President Wil liam McKinley of the United States, to meet in the City of Mexico, and convened Oct. 22, 1901. Every country was repre sented and the sessions continued until Jan. 31, 1902. The chief issue was arbitration, and the session was divided between those who favoured compulsory and those who felt that voluntary arbitration was the only practical step at the time; the final decision was a recommendation that all the countries adhere to the Hague Conventions of 1899, which provided for voluntary arbitration. Ten delegations, however, signed a pact for com pulsory arbitration. This conference also took up the moot ques tion of pecuniary claims of individuals against the Governments of countries not their own, and the conference adopted a resolu tion recommending that such claims be submitted to the arbitra tion court set up under The Hague Convention. The conference recommended the construction of railways that would fit into the proposed route of the Pan-American railway. At the Mexico Conference the International Bureau of American Republics was placed under the control of a governing board composed of the Latin American diplomatic chiefs of mission resident in Washington, with the secretary of State of the United States as ex-officio chairman. The Bureau was instructed to publish a bulletin monthly, and was made a repository of documents and given other more important functions. The governing board was instructed to take in hand the arrangements for the Third Pan American Conference.
The Third Pan-American Confer ence was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 21 to Aug. 26, 1906, and was attended by representatives of all the 21 republics with the exception of Haiti and Venezuela. Elihu Root, the American secretary of State, went to Rio for the conference, and sounded its keynote in an address which is still regarded as the essence of the Pan-American idea. The subjects taken up at this
conference followed the same line as the two previous ones. The arbitration issue was transferred to The Hague, by a resolution urging that the American delegates to The Hague seek the celebra tion of a general arbitration convention "so effective and definite that, meriting the approval of the civilized world, it shall be accepted and put in force by every nation." The resolutions passed at Mexico City with regard to patents, copyrights and trade-marks were reaffirmed with some modifications, and naturali zation and return to nationality of birth were made easier. With respect to the forcible collection of public debts, to which the "Drago Doctrine" is opposed, the conference recommended that "the Governments represented therein consider the point of in viting the Second Peace Conference at The Hague to consider the question of the compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means tending to diminish between nations conflicts having an exclusively pecuniary origin." The first Pan-American Scientific Congress met at Santiago, Chile, on Dec. 25, 1908, for the consideration of distinctly American problems. It continued in session until Jan. 5, 1909, and resolved that a second congress for the same purpose should meet at Washington in 1912.
The Fourth Conference.—The Fourth Pan-American Con ference was held at Buenos Aires from July to August 191o. It agreed to submit to arbitration such money claims as cannot be amicably settled by diplomacy, and changed the name of the organization to the Bureau of Pan-American Union. During the same year the Pan-American Union building, erected through a gift of $750,000 from Andrew Carnegie and $250,000 contributed by the various republics of the Union, was formally dedicated. The second Pan-American Scientific Congress met in Washington during the three weeks following Dec. 25, 1915. Among the speakers was President Wilson, who urged friendly settlement of 178