LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. The Government of the United States by an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1901, invited the Bureau to participate in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis. The exhibit, which was duly installed by the representative of the Bureau, has been highly commended. A statement in regard to it, accompanied by a catalogue, has just been published. In this connection it is proper to state that the appropriation made by the Government of the United States for the Bureau exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, as well as at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901, enabled the Bureau to perform certain of its functions for the purpose of an exhibit on a scale which had heretofore been impossible. This is particularly the case with regard to the publication of maps, an important feature of the work. For the exhibit at Buffalo a map of the Republic of Mexico, in two sheets, was prepared and photolithographed, and 2,000 copies placed at the disposition of the Bureau. For this exhibit also a map of Brazil was partly done and exhibited in manuscript. For the exposition at St. Louis the map of Brazil was completed in manuscript, as were also maps of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Salvador, and Costa Rica. Those of Guatemala, Nicaragua (two sheets), and Costa Rica were photolithographed, and 1,500 copies of each placed at the disposal of the Bureau. The expense entailed by this work was about $5,000. Reference is made to this more particularly for the reason that although the publication of maps of the various Latin-American Republics is a most important and much needed work, the Bureau will not be in a position to furtner carry it on with the annual appropriations, the only funds which will in all probability be at its disposal. In addition to the maps above referred to, the Bureau, during the past year, has compiled and published with the Handbook of Venezuela a map showing the railway lines of that Republic. A reprint of 1,500 copies of the recent map of Bolivia, by Señor Don EDUARDO IDIAQUEZ, has also been published. INTERNATIONAL SANITARY BUREAU. At the regular monthly meeting of the Governing Board of April 1, 1903, the Director was authorized to communicate with the diplomatic representatives of the various Governments composing the Union, concerning the carrying out of the provisions of Article VII of the Resolutions adopted by the International Sanitary Convention at its sessions held in Washington in December, 1902, which provides for the creation of an International Sanitary Bureau. Accordingly, on the 13th of the same month, a letter was addressed by the Director to the diplomatic representatives, asking them whether or not their Governments intended to become parties to the support of the Sanitary Bureau. Definite replies having been received from only a few of the countries, the Director again called the matter to the attention of the diplomatic representatives on the 28th of October last. The following countries have contributed their first annual quotas to meet the expenses of the Sanitary Bureau: Chile, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Salvador, Venezuela, and the United States. The representatives of Costa Rica and Nicaragua have signified the intention of their Governments to participate in the Sanitary Bureau. Haiti and the Argentine Republic will not become parties to it. It is to be hoped that definite action will be taken on this matter at an early date by the other Governments of the Union, in order that the quotas which the nations participating in the maintenance of the Sanitary Bureau will have to contribute for the coming year may be fixed. These quotas are payable six months in advance. The meeting of the Second General International Sanitary Convention, which was to have been held in Santiago, Chile, March 15, 1904, has been postponed for one year, by order of the President-General of the Convention, Dr. WALTER WYMAN, Surgeon-General of the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service. FIRST INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS CONGRESS. As regards the carrying out of the recommendations of the First International Customs Congress, the Director, acting under instructions of the Governing Board at the meeting above referred to in connection with the International Sanitary Bureau, also communicated on the 13th of April, 1903, with the diplomatic representatives of all the nations which form the union, recommending to their consideration the advisability of furnishing the Bureau, as early as possible, the data referred to in Resolution IV of the First International Customs Congress. These data are necessary for the preparation in Spanish, English, and Portuguese of a compilation giving the practice of each country upon the subjects of vessels, merchandise, and nomenclature in use therein, which must be completed before the next session of the Customs Congress can be convened. The communication of the Director having secured the necessary information from but four of the Governments, the matter was again submitted to the diplomatic representatives on the 1st of November of this year. INTERNATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL COMMISSION. At the last meeting of the diplomatic representatives of the American Republics, held on December 21, 1903, in the interest of the organization of an International Archæological Commission, it was resolved that an adjournment be taken until the third Monday in December, 1904, subject to earlier convocation, if in the meantime a majority of the Republics of America have signified their willingness to accept the project. The Governments of Mexico, Peru, and the United States have accepted the project as submitted, but all the other Governments of the International Union, except that of the Argentine Republic, whose representative at Washington has informed the Director that the Argentine Republic will not become a party to the plan, have not yet definitely acted upon it. The vacancy occasioned in the representation on the part of the United States on the International Archæological Commission by the death of Mr. VOLNEY W. FOSTER has been filled by the appointment of Prof. WILLIAM H. HOLMES, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and a distinguished archæologist. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT QUINTANA. On the occasion of his installation as President of the Argentine Republic on October 12, 1904, President QUINTANA delivered an address covering the internal and foreign affairs of the country, from a translation of which, as published in the "Buenos Aires Herald" for October 13, the following excerpts are taken: Senators and Deputies. GENTLEMEN: The convention which initiated my candidature adopted as its platform a republican form of Government. On consenting to enter the political arena I accepted fully this programme, and now that the popular suffrage has raised me to the Presidency it remains for me, in this solemn moment, to ratify my promise before you, the representatives of the nation. This document which I read contains precise rules for a severe administration, and in it are synthesized the most important problems, the solution of which is called for by the national progress. These things I will attend to, and as far as my powers will permit, to these ends will my government be directed. INTERIOR. My authority has sprung from the people, and although I have not mixed personally in the electoral fray, I have followed with interest the movement of the various political parties. I feel certain that henceforth, the exercise of the franchise will be a truth; I also feel that the Argentine people are perfectly capable of appreciating and using their electoral rights. The existing electoral law may undergo modifications of a fundamental nature. Its mechanism, the organization of the polling stations, the severity of its penalties, the permanent civil register are progresses made, and must not be. tampered with; but it is possible that to these things may be added the publicity of the suffragants and the system of the uninominal vote. It will be one of my principal objects to encourage the pacific activity of the political parties, and to promote debates between opposite doctrines, and to preside impartially, from the Government, over the conflict between the great organized parties. The interference of the Executive in provincial affairs is not the best way to consolidate the existing institutions and maintain peace. If a President interferes in favor of the opposition such action may easily result in stimulating license and anarchy. If on behalf of the government of the Provinces, to suffocate constitutional guarantees, such interference concentrates over the central Government the wrath of the oppressed people. The former course would tend to foment local disorder; the second would threaten the peace of the whole Republic. At the present time, thanks to the range of ideas to which the people have been raised, every one of the Provinces has within its own limits the necessary elements for the regular exercise of its institution. Order does not mean immovability; but the peace of the Provinces is, in the end, the peace of the Republic, and it is my deliberate intention to maintain with energy the constitution and the laws when threatened. I am conservative by principle and by temperament, and every attempt to produce disorder will provoke my Government to the necessary action to bring such attempts under prompt control. The national law regulating work will doubtless contribute largely to moderate strikes, and will tend to impede those frequent conflicts between employers and men which may at any moment compromise the annual production of the country. It does not suffice to regulate the law of work and not put it in accordance with present-day tendencies, but it is also necessary to correct the fiscal regimen, and some points and precepts of the ordinary legislation as the only means of moderating the marked inequalities of fortune and the unjust oppression of capital. The programme of the moderate Argentine Socialist party is to a great extent acceptable, and might well be adopted by the public authorities, in so far as they do not affect the constitution or call into question the supremacy of the State. Lastly, as regards this Department of Government, I will occupy myself with the progress of the National Territories, which are the base of so many new Provinces. It is necessary to seek in the laws and in the practice of government the means of securing their prosperity and impede those incessant conflicts between the administrative and judicial authorities. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. We are, by great good fortune, at peace with the whole world, and the frontiers of our colonial inheritance are definitely marked. I believe no danger threatens in the near future the peace of the Republic. For my part, I accept without reserve the tradition of our foreign policy, which is to be respectful to the weak and energetic, without arrogance, to the strong. We have not now to direct our diplomacy to veiled ends of an imperialistics nature nor in combination with other States, for territorial predominance. We can, on the contrary, direct our agents abroad to devote their energies and intelligence to the commercial expansion of the country. We must adopt a plan of political economy and give facilities to the industries of other nations, facilities granted upon practical grounds, employ reciprocity or reprisals as necessary, so that the value of our products will not be fixed for us but by us. In this work our consuls and ministers abroad are indispensable agents, and those called to fill these posts must in order to be of use possess the necessary qualities of activity and a sound knowledge of the necessities of the country in which they are engaged. FINANCE. If the condition of the Treasury permits, and our credit abroad continues to grow, and if the abundance of money in the European markets continues, the problem of converting totally, or in part, those external debt bonds which are specially guaranteed and carry large interest, may be considered. Could this be realized we could, by this operation, effect a great saving; and, moreover, retire from the foreign center of commerce the only privileged loans, and at the same time improve the quotation of the 4 per cent Argentine, and above all gain exceptional prestige for the nation, for such operations as these could only be undertaken by countries in the enjoyment of full prosperity and who do honor to their signatures. The state of internal affairs is favorable to conversion and the era of convertible money may be regarded as arrived if the balance of commercial exchange continues a little longer in our favor. The millions of the Caja de Conversión will then constitute a stable treasure representing the fruits of a long period of saving and not subject to alteration or variation owing to fluctuations in the annual output of the country. No one believes in Bull. No. 3-04-10 |