PAN-AMERICAN UNION international disputes by arbitration. The congress appointed an International High Commission, which sat at Buenos Aires in April 1916. Improvement and extension of cable, telegraph and railway services between the countries was urged. A permanent International High Commission was established to promote uni form commercial laws throughout the countries represented in the Union. In Feb. 1918, the governing board of the Pan-Ameri can Union approved a plan to establish a Section of Education to promote better knowledge of the languages and history of the American republics through educational institutions.
In Nov. 1918, a Pan-American Federation of Labour Confer ence met at Laredo, Texas. Delegates were present from the United States, Mexico and Central America. An influenza epi demic interfered with South American attendance, Colombia alone being represented. A permanent federation was organized. Pan American Child Welfare Congresses met at Montevideo, Uruguay, in Dec. 1918, and in May 1919; at the second meeting provision was made for establishing at Montevideo an International Bu reau of Child Welfare. In June 1919, the second Pan-American Commercial Congress was held in Washington, and in the same city, in Jan. 1920, a Pan-American Financial Congress. The sixth International Sanitary Conference was held in Montevideo, Dec. 12 to 20, 1920. It re-organized the International Sanitary Bureau, which has been active in disseminating valuable bulletins on sanitation and public health.
The Fifth Pan-American Conference was held March 25 to May 3, 1923, at Santiago, Chile, Henry P. Fletcher, U.S. ambassador to Belgium, being head of the U.S. delegation. Delegations from all the American republics, except Bolivia, Mexico and Peru, were present, and a large number of subjects were discussed. A proposal by Uruguay that the prin ciple of the Monroe Doctrine be adopted by all American States was not supported by the United States delegates, and was rec ommended for report to the next Pan-American Conference. Similarly, an attempt to arrive at an agreement for the limita tion of naval armaments failed on account of disagreement be tween Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Costa Rica strongly urged the establishment of an American Permanent Court of Justice but failed to obtain the support of the conference, because the plan submitted included arbitration of questions involving the vital interests of nations, and the matter was referred to the com mission of jurists at Rio de Janeiro in 1925.
Four conventions were completed and signed, viz., an agree ment under which international disputes might be investigated and settled by a commission empowered to ascertain facts; a trade-mark convention, protecting users of trade-marks in the countries where ownership of the mark is acquired through reg istration; a convention to secure uniformity of nomenclature in the classification of merchandise ; and one providing for the pub licity of customs documents. No fewer than 73 resolutions were
passed, one of the most important of which created four perma nent committees to assist the Union in the study of (I) the best means of developing the economic and commercial relations be tween the American States; (2) the international organization of labour in America; (3) hygiene in the countries of the American continent ; and (4) the best means of developing intellectual co operation, with especial reference to co-operation between the universities and the exchange of professors and students.
At the Sixth Pan-American Confer ence, held in Havana, Cuba from Jan. 16, to Feb. 20, 1928, Mr. Charles Evans Hughes, former secretary of state, headed the United States delegation. Prior to the conference, jurists of the American nations had met and approved drafts for the codification of Public and Private International Law; and the discussion of these projects largely occupied the attention of the conference. The conference also authorized 14 special conferences, on various subjects, to be arranged for by the Pan-American Union. Most important was that on arbitration, which was held in Washington beginning Dec. Io, 1928. A Pan-American convention on aerial navigation was adopted, with the provision that other nations might adhere if they so desired. The special conference on arbi tration adopted conventions for conciliation and arbitration, pro viding among other things for a commission of inquiry with au thority to suggest bases for the settlement of international dis putes and for a system of compulsory arbitration of practically all juridical questions.
Perhaps of greater historical sig nificance than any of its predecessors was the Seventh Inter national Conference, held at Montevideo, Uruguay from Dec. 3 to Dec. 26, 1933. Here the growing resentment of Latin America against the assumed superiority of the United States came to a head in a resolution, debated and finally adopted, that "No State has the right to intervene in the internal or external affairs of an other." In giving approval to this doctrine on the part of the United States, Secretary of State Hull took occasion to declare ex pressly the new trend in our foreign policy, which had indeed been distinguishable since about 1929 but more particularly since the inauguration of Mr. Roosevelt, of allowing the Latin American States to settle their own problems in their own way and acting, in the words of the President, merely as "good neighbours" when our assistance is desired. As further evidence of the good will of !the United States, Mr. Hull signed for his nation the Peace Pact !sponsored by Selior Saavedra Lamas of Argentina.
, Besides these more dramatic proceedings, the Conference went on record in favour of efforts to reduce all trade barriers, chiefly through the instrumentality of reciprocity agreements; and fur ther progress was made in the codification of international law.