ment, and in view of the constantly enlarging scope of inter-American cooperation.

It was nearly forty years ago that Mr. Dawson began the distinguished eareer from which he has garnered the rich experience fitting him so admirably for his present position. He entered the Consular Service in March 1908, serving successively as Vice Consul at St. Petersburg, Barcelona, and Frankfurt am Main and as Consul at Rosario, Montevideo, Danzig, and Munich. Then he became inspector of consular offices in South and Central America (1922-24). In October 1924 he was assigned to the Department of State, where he was a member of the Executive Committee of Foreign Service Personnel and Chief Instructor of the Foreign Service School. After being Consul General at Mexico for almost two years, he went in May 1930 to Ecuador as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. At the end of 1934 he was transferred to Colombia in the same capacity, and about three years later to Uruguay. He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Panama in March 1939, and in February 1941 he returned to Uruguay, likewise as Ambassador. After

leaving this post in August 1946, he retired from the Foreign Service at the end of the year.

Mr. Dawson, who acted as a political adviser on the United States delegation to the recent Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, has taken part in other important deliberations, for he was adviser to the American delegation of the Second Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics at Habana in 1940, and Political Adviser to the United States Delegation to the First Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1946, and to the Special Session of the General Assembly on Palestine in April 1947.

He also served as special representative of the President with rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the inauguration of the President of Peru, December 1939, and of the President of Ecuador, September 1940.

Mr. Dawson was born at St. Paul, Minnesota on August 11, 1885. He received his B. A. from the University of Minnesota in 1906 and attended the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques two years.

EVER since its discovery in 1502, the Isthmus of Panama has beckoned to the adventurous. Men of all races and tongues have met and mingled here to create one of the world's most cosmopolitan nations. The modern visitor will find it a place well worth seeing, for Panama is a strange land of contrasts where lovely national costumes and dances, fine climate, and exotic scenery are to be found as a backdrop for a fantastically busy commercial life. Really to know the Isthmus, the traveler must become acquainted with two separate entities: The Republic of Panama and the Panama Canal Zone.

The Panama Canal Zone is a strip of territory stretching from the Caribbean Sea on the north to the Pacific Ocean on the south and bisecting the Republic of Panama into roughly equal sections.

In width, the Canal Zone extends five miles from either bank of the Panama Canal. It is leased to the United States by the Republic of Panama for the express purpose of the maintenance, operation, and defense of the Panama Canal. The Zone is sovereign territory of the Republic of Panama but is under the administration and jurisdiction of the United States. Here Uncle Sam is "the butcher, the baker, and candlestick-maker" as well as the employer of every one. For under the treaty existing between Panama and the United States, no one may work, live, or buy in the Canal Zone unless he is employed directly or indirectly by Uncle Sam.

The tourist from the United States will find the Canal Zone a source of pride and of interest, for here man's intelligence and

diligence have triumphed over great obstacles to create in this narrow strip of territory one of the world's engineering miracles, as well as one of the most efficient and best sanitated areas in the tropics.

However, such a visitor will probably find the Republic of Panama more interestingly "foreign." In this youngest of American republics, modern commercial life flourishes but has a decidedly Latin flavor. There is time out for holidays and fiestas, for dancing and for song. Carnival's King Momo and his beautiful queen rule over the nation for four wildly happy days each year. They are followed by Holy Week candlelight processions and by the Devil Dance, performed by dancers. wearing wild animals' heads and bells for tails who pass through their villages on the Saturday of Holy Week to cleanse the houses of evil spirits for the coming year. The same day there is the ceremony of

"the hanging of Judas" when his effigy is burned after his will has been read. In this last testament the town's scandals are aired for all to take warning. Usually written by the town's mayor or scholar, the will has a most salutary effect on all misdemeanants.

Next on the calendar are salutes to the Fourth of July and to France's Bastille Day. November 3 brings Panama's own Independence Day, closely followed by another patriotic holiday. There's the founding of Panama City to be celebrated just after the nation finishes with the traditional gaiety of Christmas and New Year's. In between, each village, town, and city honors its saint's day. So Panama's people enjoy life although they engage in serious work and commercial activity which keep the country in the position of a commercial crossroads.

There are five distinct regions of tourist interest. Each offers something worth