As THE multicolored flags of the 21 Ameri

can Republics flew before its doors, the Pan American Union welcomed on the afternoon of June 7, 1946, a distinguished visitor from Colombia, President-elect Mariano Ospina Pérez, who will be inaugurated August 7 for a four-year term. At a special session of the Governing Board held in his honor, Dr. Ospina and his party were warmly greeted by the Chairman of the Governing Board, Dr. Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa, Ambassador of Nicaragua, who spoke as follows in eloquent Spanish:

My colleagues of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union have conferred on me the pleasant task of extending to Your Excellency in their name our warmest and most cordial welcome to this House of the Americas.

We are deeply gratified by your presence at this special meeting in your honor.

Long before you were called to fill the highest office that the citizens of Colombia can confer, we knew of the outstanding services which you had rendered your country. The fact that you were chosen to be the Chief Executive can be con

sidered the logical outcome of a brilliant career, wholly devoted to watching over the welfare and prestige of a sister nation.

Your many merits, your sterling virtues placed at the service of the good causes in the high posts which you have filled, your illustrious name-so closely linked to the history of your countryand the special circumstance that Colombia is deeply esteemed by the American family of nations, makes your visit to this House of the Americas especially appreciated. The contribution of Colombia to the solidarity of our hemisphere has been great, and its participation in the noble cause of America has been valuable and constant. At the International Conferences of American States Colombia has vigorously and decisively supported every effort to strengthen the inter-American system of cooperation, taking efficient measures to maintain its integrity and carry out the obligations contracted at our regional meetings for the maintenance of the security of the American Republics, and showing at all times a resolute desire to cooperate in the defense of Democracy-reasons for which you must feel very proud of your Colombian origin. Your visit offers us a fortunate opportunity to say that the Pan American Union is happy to believe that your acts as head of the Government of your country will measure up to the stature

Therefore, Your Excellency, our personal welcome is enhanced by the high esteem in which all those present hold the part which both you and your country have taken in fostering Pan American solidarity and consequently the cause of humanity to which we all contribute and in which we all participate-raising our thought and will in difficult and crucial times until they equal the need and respond to the desires of our peoples which, eager to live in peace, in an atmosphere which condemns abuse and violence, aspire to give room to love, the supreme link holding men together, and thus to reaffirm that it is the principles of liberty and equality, fraternity and humanitarianism, which shape the American way of life, within the strict canons of law, justice and mutual respect.

We bid you welcome, Your Excellency, to this House of the Americas.

Moved by this friendly tribute from the representatives of all the American nations, Dr. Ospina replied with an expression of

his personal gratitude and that of the people of Colombia. He praised the work of the Pan American Union, declaring: "Colombia is ready to continue promoting more and more ardently the comprehensive program upon which the countries of America have decided, a program reflected in the doctrine embodied in numerous international juridical instruments, which are models of good sense and seasoned judgment." Dr. Ospina's full address follows:

MR. CHAIRMAN OF THE GOVERNING BOARD; MR. DIRECTOR GENERAL; LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I wish to thank the Chairman and the members of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union for their warm and cordial reception. I have been deeply moved by your sincere words, lofty in thought, and imbued with the continental inspiration that vivifies everything done in this noble House of the Americas.

Your Chairman has referred with great generosity to me and to my forebears. I thank him for his words, which I think err on the side of kindness as far as I am concerned. I am grateful for his mention of my country as one of the benefactors of the great cause that animates the work of the Pan American Union. In this there is no exaggeration in view of the interest with which Colombia has always cooperated to assure the success of this institution.

How can one fail to feel lively admiration, and what is more, profound emotion, on contemplating the course followed by the Pan American Union during its relatively short life, and the humane and beneficent impression that it has left in the wake of its many and varied activities? In contrast with other institutions which are purely theoretical, this institution has concerned itself with deeds. These make all the sons of America proud and justify a healthy optimism not only for this continent but for humanity.

Since the foundation of the Pan American Union, it has seemed several times as though the planet would succumb to the violence of man. Empires which arose before our eyes once and again in the short period of time which elapses between one generation and another and which were endowed with the most tremendous elements of might and power, have been turned to dust not only by the forces of the opposition, but because of their own moral failings. Nobly

inspired institutions, which at one time gave humanity the illusion that it had entered on better paths than those theretofore pursued, declined rapidly until they finally perished, and while these convulsions have been taking place, one after another, with an intensity which has made us doubt everything, the institution par excellence of the Americas has continued without a day's interruption its tasks of democratic harmony, of international understanding, of intellectual interchange, of rapprochement between the cultures of the North and the South. It can be said, looking at the trail which has been blazed by the Pan American Union in its useful existence, that it is one of the most interesting experiments, and particularly one of the most effective, that have been carried out in an effort to create an instrument of peace, a really civilized bond between countries of varying size and power, of surprising contrasts in their respective outlooks, separated by geographic distances that only the progress of aviation has been able to shorten.

In this momentous hour for the world, in this hazardous and painful postwar period, the Pan American Union daily intensifies its fraternal and cordial mission. To measure the significance of this institution, one need only consider what it would mean to other continents to be able to construct, with the purpose, the mentality, and the spirit of the American nations, other similar "workshops of international friendship" as heartwarming as the one found here.

To the already lengthy record of the Pan American Union in political and cultural spheres must now be added the no less vigorous field of activity assigned to it by the Act of Chapultepec. Within this field is found a promising enterprise in economic and social action, whose supreme aspiration is the realization of the economic independence of all Americans and the united economic front of the continent. Thus this twentieth century will complete, in the social and economic realm, the independence which the individual attained in the political realm in the nineteenth century.

Colombia is well acquainted with the efforts made by the nations members of the Pan American Union to create the structure of a system that has harmony, solidarity, or better yet, unity. This end has not been attained without self-denial and sacrifices. Each of the sovereign states of the Continent has made them for the general welfare. Colombia is ready to continue promoting, more and more ardently, the comprehensive program

upon which the countries of America have decided, a program reflected in the doctrine embodied in numerous international juridical instruments, which are models of good sense and seasoned judgment.

In these achievements a place of honor must be given to the valuable contribution of the representatives of the different countries which make up the American family and which constitute the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, today under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa, the distínguished Ambassador of Nicaragua, a noble country linked to Colombia by old and intimate intellectual ties, which unite us in an affectionate bond. I wish to make special mention of Dr. L. S. Rowe, whose influence here, heightened by his remarkable tact and good will, has always promoted the welfare of the Pan American Union.

Permit me to express my sincere wishes for the prosperity of this institution, and for the good fortune which the future holds in store for it, to the benefit not only of this continent but of the world.

At the conclusion of the special session, Dr. Antonio Rocha, special Ambassador of Colombia on the Governing Board, introduced the members to the Presidentelect, after which a luncheon was served in the Hall of Heroes of the Pan American Union.

Dr. Ospina, accompanied by his wife, traveled to the United States as a guest of honor of the Government of the United States. During his four-day stay in Washington he was entertained extensively at both official and social functions. On June 6 he attended a luncheon in his honor given by President and Mrs. Truman at the White House, and that night Secretary of State and Mrs. James F. Byrnes were hosts at a dinner at the Shoreham Hotel. A reception at the spacious Colombian Embassy was held for the President-elect and Señora de Ospina on the evening of June 7 by His Excellency Carlos Sanz de Santamaría, Ambassador of Colombia to the United

States, and Señora de Sanz. On June 8 the Honorable Spruille Braden, Assistant Secretary of State and representative of the United States on the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, honored the distinguished guest with a luncheon at the Mayflower Hotel.

Accompanying Dr. Ospina and his wife. on the trip were Señoras Zoraida Jaramillo de Plata, María Hernández de Jaramillo, Doctors Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez, Fernando Salazar, Salvador Camacho Roldán, Jorge Bejarano, Diego Mejía and Eduardo Zuleta Angel, and Señor Edmundo de Holt Castello.

From Washington Dr. Ospina's party went to New York, where a hospitable welcome was prepared.

Dr. Mariano Ospina Pérez is a distinguished engineer, industrialist, and statesman. Born on November 24, 1891, in Medellín, a thriving industrial city in the Department of Antioquia, he studied literature at the Colegio San José of the Christian Brothers in his native city and at the University of Antioquia, which granted him his bachelor's degree in philosophy and letters. From this University's School of Mines he was graduated as a civil and mining engineer. His further professional training was received at the Universities of Louisiana and Wisconsin in the United States, where he specialized in industrial chemistry, and in Brussels, Belgium, where

in 1914 he obtained a diploma in engineering.

During the course of his career Dr. Ospina has been a member of the Medellín city council; a delegate to the Antioquia Assembly; manager of the Antioquia Railroad; president of the University of Antioquia, in which position he succeeded his noted father, Dr. Tulio Ospina; several times senator in the national Congress; a member of the executive committee of the Conservative party; manager of the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers; and Minister of Public Works under President Abadía Méndez. As manager of the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers, he advocated an open market policy and the stimulation of coffee cultivation in the interior of the country. During his term as Minister of Public Works he advanced the study of a railroad and highway plan and also proposed the organization of a State Railway Board. Dr. Ospina was one of the founders and editors of Joven Antioquia, the circulation and reputation of which he did much to promote.

The presidency of Colombia is not new to the family of Dr. Ospina, for his grandfather, Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, held office from 1857 to 1861, and his uncle, General Pedro Nel Ospina, governed from 1922 to 1926.