general reorganization and several learned societies, such as the Dominican Academy of Languages and the Dominican Athenaeum, were granted subventions by the State to help insure their stability and progress. On August 16, 1945, the first of the twenty modern buildings that will form the University City in Ciudad Trujillo was opened. The Medical School of the University of Santo Domingo will be housed in the new edifice, which contains five class rooms, each with a capacity for 100 students; offices for the faculty; and an amphitheater, large enough to accommodate 300 students. Other benefits of the national educational program during the past several years include the serving of school lunches. and the distribution of clothing to needy school children; the establishment of school libraries; and the creation of an award, in accordance with Law No. 282 of May 29, 1940, of two scholarships. These scholarships, granted annually to the two most outstanding public primary school pupils, comprise a monthly stipend of $60 over a period of twelve years, sufficient to cover the child's education and subsistence, from grade school through university, technical, or other specialized higher study. Change in officer ranks in the The new law governing the organization of the Argentine Navy, Decree No. 10,700 of May 30, 1945, makes some changes in officer ranks (see Officer Ranks of the Armed Forces of the Western Hemisphere, by Francis Millet Rogers, BULLETIN, January 1945, and Reorganization of the Argentine Armed Forces, BULLETIN, June 1945). The rank of Capitán de Corbeta is introduced between Capitán de Fragata and Teniente New normal school in Honduras A group of parents in Puerto Cortés, Honduras, have organized themselves into a legal entity-the Asociación de Padres de Familia de Puerto Cortés-in order to found a coeducational normal school in that city. The school, which will bear the name of Franklin D. Roosevelt, will offer liberal arts and commercial courses as well as teacher-training. Students of both sexes, regardless of financial status, will have an opportunity to extend their knowledge of the arts and sciences as a preliminary step to obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Sciences and Letters, to take specialized business courses, or to acquire certificates qualifying them to teach in city primary schools. The institution will be administered by its own board, and supported by the voluntary contributions of Association members. National Library Council in Peru A National Library Council has been established in Peru to supervise the country's libraries, and to control Government funds appropriated for their support. Working in cooperation with the Office of Art Education and Cultural Dissemination, the Council will promote the development of the library profession, and the growth and improvement of libraries throughout the republic. It will make a special study of ways and means to establish a chain of popular, labor union, traveling, juvenile, city, rural, or whatever type of libraries best answers the needs of the country, and will proceed to set up a nation-wide system of book depositories. Members of the Council include two representatives of the National Library, a representative of the Peruvian Library Association, delegates from various special libraries, and the chiefs of certain sections of the Ministry of Education. Bolivian Indian Congress The National Indian Congress that convened in La Paz last May will be remembered as an important event in Bolivian history, partly because it was the first such congress to be held in the country, but still more because it won for the Indian population the abolition of old laws whose practice had kept them in a state of nearslavery, and the promulgation of new laws offering them educational opportunities and promising agrarian reforms. For the first time representatives of Bolivia's vast Indian population were able to formulate together their demands for better social, economic, educational, and health opportunities. Over 2,000 delegates attended, from all parts of the country. The chairman was an Aymara Indian, and the Congress had three official languages, Quechua, Aymara, and Spanish. Measures recommended by the Congress included the following: 1. The enforcement of previous legislation requiring the establishment of schools by the owners of agricultural, mining, and industrial enterprises. 2. The study and practical regulation of Indian education by the National Government, including the provision of technically trained teachers and of agricultural education for adults. 3. The suppression of municipal tax collections at the points of entry of cities. 4. The abolition of the pongueaje and mitanaje and of all free services on the part of the native population. (The pongueaje and mitanaje were two feudal practices by which the Indians could be arbitrarily taken from their homes and obliged to work without pay on construction projects or in the mines.) 5. The preparation of an Agrarian Code. 6. The establishment of provisions governing the relations between proprietors and laborers until the Code is set up. 7. The regulation of rural police. 8. The approval by the Government of the proposal for the establishment of Agricultural cooperatives prepared by the Steering Committee of the Congress. 9. A vote of praise for the Academia Aymara for the work it is carrying on, and the stimulation of other organizations for the study of native languages. 10. The establishment of the Bolivian Indian Institute as a part of the Inter-American Indian Institute. 11. The publication in a bilingual handbook of current legal provisions for the protection of the rural worker and of the Indian in general. 12. The designation of Francisco Chipana Ramos, Chairman of the Congress, as the permanent representative of the rural workers before the national Government. 13. The organization of public health services, the establishment of pharmacies in provincial capitals and native villages, and the obliging of proprietors to protect the health of their workers. 14. An increase in irrigation activities in various parts of the country, and the expropriation of the necessary sources of water. 15. The provision of facilities for the acquisition of identification cards by Indians. 16. The prohibition of "hunting parties" by the savage tribes of the eastern part of the country, and the employment of every possible means to incorporate them into civilized life. The response of the Bolivian Government to the recommendations of the Congress was prompt and effective. An execu tive decree promulgated on May 15, 1945 abolished pongueaje and mitanaje, fixed a fine of 500 bolivianos for infractions, and authorized any Indians then serving as pongos or mitanis to return immediately to their homes, demanding a certain sum for traveling expenses. The same decree goes on to state that all service must be done voluntarily and must receive due remuneration, and it provides that any public official who obliges Indians to give free services will be deprived of his office. Another executive decree provided for the appointment of a commission to draft a new Agrarian Code, the text of which was to be presented to the Government by December 31, 1945. A third decree regulated rural labor pending establishment of the Code. In answer to the recommendations regarding education, the President promulgated a decree providing that 50 percent of the public works tax revenues in each province will be used for Indian schools and that the Ministry of Education will send out teachers for rural schools, and requiring landowners to comply with previous legislation in providing educational opportunities for Indian workers. Social security for government employees in Colombia Employees of the Colombian Government will begin with the new year to enjoy the benefits of the social security fund set up for them by decree of June. 30, 1945, in accordance with policies laid down in the labor law of February 19, 1945. These benefits will include sickness and disability allowances, medical and hospital allowances, a lump sum payment at death or separation from service, retirement at the age of 50 after 20 years of service, and necessary burial expenses. The insurance will be compulsory for permanent government employees not already covered by official insurance. It will be optional for temporary and contract employees, and for those permanent employees already carrying official insurance who prefer to enroll under the new system. Additional services covering families of the insured may be developed in the future, and these will be optional. An annual appropriation amounting to 3 percent of the national revenues will be added to the premiums paid by the insured to form the fund. Premiums will be deducted from wages and salaries, and will be 2 percent in the case of laborers, 3 percent for other government employees. The latter will also be required to make an entering payment amounting to onethird of their salaries for the first month after January 1, 1945. The fund will be administered by a Board made up of the Minister of the Treasury, the Minister of Labor, Hygiene, and Social Security, the Comptroller General, an elected representative of laborers employed by the government, and an elected representative of other government employees. New homes for Ecuadorean farm workers The Government of Ecuador recently issued regulations on housing for rural workers. Both the Constitution and the Labor Code establish the obligation of farm owners to furnish adequate, healthful, and comfortable homes for their workers, and the recent regulations were issued by the Chief Executive to enforce a wider fulfillment of that obligation. Houses for workers with families must have not less than two bedrooms, a corridor, and a kitchen, and outside the house but adjacent to it, a proper shelter must be provided for domestic animals. The kitchen must also have an extension or other proper storage place for household food supplies. For workers without families, group housing facilities equipped with individual rooms must be constructed. Early compliance with these regulations was assured by requiring that farm owners or renters secure model housing plans from the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare within 15 days after the decree became effective (July 2, 1945), and they were further required to start construction of at least two houses within two months from that date and to have all the necessary material on hand to complete them as rapidly as possible. Beginning with the year 1946, the Ministry of Social Welfare is authorized to determine the number of additional houses to be built annually on each estate, according to the number of workers employed. The regulations also fixed penalties for failure to comply with these provisions. Expanded water supply for Puerto Cortés A contract has been signed between the Inter-American Cooperative Public Health Service and the District Council of Puerto Cortés, Honduras, providing for the construction of a supplementary water-supply system for that city. The project, which is expected to cost approximately $11,500, will be financed by the city and planned and executed by the Inter-American Health Service. The present water supply of this vital Caribbean port, which is derived from the Cieneguita River, has proved inadequate for the needs of the city's 7,560 people during the dry season. The Health Service plans to expand the system by bringing water from the Cacao River, located to the southwest of the Cieneguita. It is expected that the combined supply from the two rivers will be sufficient even for 10,000 inhabitants. Venezuelan regional health units In order to insure adequate health and welfare services in every part of the country, the Venezuelan Government is establishing Regional Health Units throughout the republic. These Units will be charged with supervising and coordinating the federal, state, and municipal health and welfare activities within their respective territories. They will make systematic studies of the needs of the cities and towns under their jurisdiction, and report to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare any problems beyond their ability to solve. Each unit will include such services as Sanitary Engineering, Epidemiology, Veterinary, Supervision of Nurses, and a Public Health Laboratory. Brazilian Industrial Apprenticeship Service For more than three years there has been functioning in Brazil the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service, established to increase the efficiency and productivity of the industrial worker and to raise his standard of living. For educational and administrative purposes the country has been divided into ten regions, which contribute proportionately to their population to the support of the schools. The quotas are expended in the same regions in which they are collected. The Service operates. 58 schools in which 14,000 industrial apprentices, including both children and adults, are trained. During the war emergency courses were offered, and hundreds of certificates were issued to workers who completed technical apprenticeships. The Service had plans for providing industrial training for 60,000 workers during 1945. Family Dining Room No. 2 in On December 1, 1945, President Ávila Camacho of Mexico attended the ceremony that marked the official opening of Family Dining Room No. 2, located in the Colonia Anáhuac, one of Mexico City's outlying industrial population centers. The new building is a great model restaurant that can serve 750 persons at one time. Its schedule calls for the service of three meals a day to 1,500 persons, representing 400 families. Much careful planning went into its construction and its kitchen, storage, refrigeration, and other equipment is of the best. The service the dining room gives is not charity. Every person pays for his meals. according to his family income. Because of their low incomes the people in the neighborhood represent a vulnerable population group, and the benefits of the dining room service, which Mexico has already had opportunity to measure through the operation of Family Dining Room No. 1 located in another section of the city, are enormous in terms of the human beings involved. Publications of the Pan American Union, July-December 1945 Books, pamphlets, and leaflets on a variety of subjects are edited by the different offices and divisions of the Pan American Union. They offer useful material to the student and to the teacher in the Pan American field, and make available to interested groups and individuals the technical information developed through various phases of Pan American COoperation. The following Pan American Union publications appeared during the last six months of 1945: COLUMBUS MEMORIAL LIBRARY: Selected List of Books on Latin America, Bibliographic Series No. 4, 7th edition, $0.25. The Pan American Bookshelf, an annotated list of the books received in the Library of the Pan American Union, monthly, $1.00 a year. The November-December number will list the nearly 5,800 books received for the First Pan American Book Exhibit.) COUNSELOR'S OFFICE: Final Act of the Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture, Congress and Conference Series No. 49-English and Spanish editions. $0.50. Final Act of the Fourth Pan American Coffee Conference, Congress and Conference Series No. 50. $0.15. Transition Problems from War to Peace. Documentary material for the Inter-American Economic and Social Council-English, Spanish, and Portuguese editions. DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION: Agriculture in Nicaragua, by José M. Zelaya, in the Handbook for the Use of the Delegates, in English Part 1-Money and Agricul ture; International Basic Agricultural Commodities Part II-Oil-bearing Seeds and Vegetable Oils; Animal Fats and Wool Vol. II. Part I-Foodstuffs and Raw Materials Part II-Animal Industry; Economic Entomology; Industrial Utilization of Agricultural Products; Food and Nutrition |