process of formation after the earthquake and fire that visited it on March 31, 1931, destroyed thirty-four blocks of houses, and killed three thousand persons.

Managua has to the south opportunity to spread out on a mountain plateau. This cool and healthful region, rich in coffee plantations and crossed by the Pan American Highway from Managua, will, it is expected, be the site at no distant date of a modern and pleasant residential section.

When the first sparks of revolution began to fly in León, Granada, and Rivas in 1810 and 1811, preparatory to the American epic of emancipation, the people of Managua, that true cub of the Spanish lion, proved their love for the glories of Castile as shown in the Conquest by unswerving devotion to the most noble monarchy in the world. Our historians. make no reference to any energetic attitude displayed by the prudent people of Managua in the greatest crisis of Spanish rule in our country, in those terrible days

of passionate desire for liberty, of unleashed forces of vigorous and fast-moving strife, those memorable days that were the forerunners of our independence.

Fernando VII of Spain spoke affectionately of Managua when he granted it on March 24, 1819, by royal decree the title of Loyal City "so that it may enjoy the preeminence that it can and should enjoy, and so that likewise its residents shall have all the privileges of immunity and prerogatives which the residents of similar cities in these and others of my realms enjoy and should enjoy, and so that this title may be put on all the letters and instruments and in public places, and so that the monarchs who succeed me shall thus call it, and them I charge that they shall support, favor, and guard it and do it all the honors, favors, and privileges that pertain to it." Thus reads in part the royal mandate that I had the privilege of discovering in the Colonial Archives of León, where I also found the coat-of-arms of Managua, which I identi

Juan Antonio Ríos, President of Chile

In Memoriam

PRESIDENT Juan Antonio Ríos of Chile, who will be remembered as a believer in democracy and the leader of his country in its break with the Axis powers, died on the morning of June 27, 1946. He had suffered six months of serious illness, compelling him to ask for official leave of absence, and had delegated his authority to the Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Duhalde Vázquez, who took the title of Vice President of the Republic. President Ríos had been at the head of the government since April 2, 1942, when he commenced his term of six years. At that time he was elected as candidate of the Radical Party to succeed President Pedro Aguirre Cerdo who had died on November 25, 1941. President Ríos was therefore the second successive president of Chile to die in office.

Juan Antonio Ríos Morales was born November 10, 1888, at Cañete in the province of Arauco. When he was six months old his father died, leaving the family with insufficient resources; but as a boy young Juan was able to contribute to the cost of his education by helping with the boarding students at his school, and at a very early age he succeeded in combining with his studies a minor position. in the city offices of Concepción. He began his university studies in the Law School of that city, and completed them at the University of Chile in Santiago, where he received his degree in 1914.

At the age of twenty-nine he began his public career as a member of the Con

cepción City Council. After a short period in the foreign service of his country, he returned to Chile and was elected to Congress, first as deputy, then as senator, and finally as deputy again, for terms totaling fourteen years. He also acted briefly as Minister of the Interior and as Minister of Justice. In 1937 he presided over the convention of the Radical Party which voted to join the Popular Front, and from that time he was a more and more important figure. He held many high offices connected with government banks and agencies fostering mining and other means of development.

In October 1945 President Ríos came to the United States as a guest of the Government. An earlier trip that had been planned for 1942 at the invitation of President Roosevelt had been postponed. While President Ríos was in

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Washington a special session of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union was held in his honor. In the course of the address that he made on this occasion he said:

Our national life, like that in all the evolving democracies of America, is dignified and exalted by participation in the continental community of nations. The democratic spirit is fraternal and peaceful. The masses, upon whom fall with greatest weight the anxieties of overcoming material difficulties, understand each other's needs and resources; this comprehension leads to understanding and good will. Furthermore, the essential basis of the inter-American system rests upon the carrying over into the international sphere of democratic national government, that is, upon the recognition of the equality of sovereignty, from which is derived the right of nations to control their own destinies.

This principle of equality and mutual respect, as well as the rule of noninterference in purely internal affairs, has given a solid moral quality to the inter-American system, permitting it to func

tion, regardless of circumstances, so as to strengthen the solidarity and peaceful fellowship of nations. At its meeting on July 17, 1946, the Governing Board unanimously passed the following resolution:

WHEREAS: The Governing Board of the Pan American Union has learned with profound regret of the death of His Excellency Juan Antonio Ríos, President of Chile; and

WHEREAS: During his brilliant public career President Ríos showed a constant and keen interest in the development of Pan Americanism, thus contributing to closer relations between the peoples of America;

The Governing Board of the Pan American Union

RESOLVES:

1. To include in the minutes of this meeting an expression of condolence on the occasion of the death of His Excellency Juan Antonio Ríos, President of Chile.

2. To request the Director General to transmit this resolution to the Government of Chile and to the family of the late President Ríos.

THE Inter-American Conference of Experts on Copyright met at the Pan American Union from June 1 to June 22, 1946. This was the first time in the Americas that an assembly had come together to draw up a convention on the subject of authors' rights. The preceding conventions, signed at Mexico in 1902, Rio de Janeiro in 1906, and Buenos Aires in 1910, and the revision of the last-named made at Habana in 1928, were formulated by International Conferences of American States which, since they discuss a wide variety of topics concerning the interAmerican system, are hardly prepared to take up specialized subjects.

The June meeting was held pursuant to the provisions of Resolution XXXIX of the Eighth International Conference of American States (Lima, 1938). The Pan American Union, in compliance with the duties entrusted to it by this resolution, took a series of steps which culminated in the convocation of the Conference of Experts.

For a long time the American countries had felt the need of considering in a special conference the problems concerning copyright, complex and technical by their very nature. The Conference at Lima oriented the course that would gradually bring about the greatest possible perfection of the inter-American system in this field. Proceeding in accordance with the recommendations of that Conference, the Pan American Union made every effort to

turn a long-standing aspiration into a reality. The passage of eight years between the Lima Conference and the Conference of Experts on Copyright was a result of the war, which interrupted the execution of plans under way and prevented the convocation of the latter. This intervening period, however, permitted much effective work to be done through the study of the principal problems and through the exchange of opinions. During this time the Pan American Union had the invaluable help, support, and cooperation of various interested specialists and organizations.

The governments of the twenty-one countries members of the Pan American Union appointed forty-eight delegates and technical advisers to take part in the deliberations of the conference. All these experts worked hard and enthusiastically in the best Pan American tradition to draw up an effective convention. A spirit of give and take prevailed, and every effort was made to find a formula acceptable to all countries.

The opening session took place on June 1, in the Hall of the Americas of the Pan American Union, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa, delegate of Nicaragua and Chairman of the Governing Board of the Union. In the name of this institution, Dr. Sevilla Sacasa welcomed the delegates who had come to take part in a task the purpose of which, he said, was to help in