much of Haiti's best agricultural land was planted to cryptostegia, a rubber-producing vine. Upon the conclusion of the project in June 1944, 40,000 Haitian families in the cryptostegia areas found themselves without work and lacking the seeds and tools to replant crops. The problem of supplying food to these displaced people was further complicated by the fact that such fruit trees as the mango, breadfruit, and avocado, which contribute so greatly to the Haitian diet, had been cut down to make way for cryptostegia.

"To help with this rehabilitation problem Food Supply Division technicians were sent to work with Haitian personnel under the terms of a cooperative agreement signed on August 28, 1944 by the Haitian Minister of Agriculture and a representative of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs. A survey of Haiti's agriculture by these men revealed that in normal times only about one-fourth of the available land was cultivated and productive of food. Yet even this yield was only half the amount possible due to the primitive methods employed by the average Haitian farmer.

"On the basis of these findings a program was formulated by the cooperative food mission which would alleviate the acute need of the displaced cryptostegia growers and also lay the foundation for long-range improvements in the nation's agriculture

banana, plantain, sugar cane, and mandioca plants had been distributed.

"Scarce tools were also procured by the Food Mission and were made available to farmers at cost. By this means almost 20,000 machetes, hoes, and other tools were placed in the hands of Haitian farmers who could not afford to purchase them at retail prices. In addition, technical supervision was provided to help farmers with their agricultural problems and to show them how to utilize the tools and seeds procured for them to the best advantage.

"With the help of excellent Haitian field personnel and a favorable growing season the emergency program proved successful beyond all expectations. Plains which were barren of crops in the fall of 1944 were covered with corn, millet, rice, beans, mandioca, sweet potatoes, bananas, and plantain a year later. A plentiful supply of good seed was produced for the next crop season and grain storage facilities made available by the Mission helped to stabilize prices and supplies.

"The only activity of the cryptostegia program which remains to be completed is the distribution of fruit and precious wood trees. Because any effort to supply these needed trees necessitates long-range planning, Institute representatives believed the distribution should be carried on by a permanent agency of the Haitian Government. Accordingly, last December a subsidy of $12,000 was provided from the funds of the cooperative food program to effect the transfer of the project to the Haitian Department of Agriculture whose technicians are continuing the work with enthusiasm.

"The second phase of the program, initiated in January 1946 under the direction of Dr. Marion N. Walker, Chief of Party, is directed toward improvements in the more normal pattern of Haitian

agriculture. Actually some of the most urgent problems of the country are of such a nature that attacks upon them must be of a continuous nature to effect lasting benefits. For this reason particular emphasis is being placed on educational and demonstrational work which will assure the maximum utilization of the facilities established by the Food Mission and the availability of experienced local technicians to carry on the development program after the departure of the United States staff."

Labor laws in Brazil and

El Salvador

The Governments of Brazil and El Salvador have both promulgated far-reaching laws governing the relations between capital and labor in their countries.

The Brazilian law, issued in March 1946, divides the nation's economy into "fundamental" and "accessory" activities. "Fundamental" activities are defined as those concerned with transportation, communications, and the supply of water, power, light, gas, and essential commodities. Under the latter come all agricultural and slaughterhouse activities as well as the operation of schools, banks, pharmacies, hospitals, funeral services, and industries. basic to national defense.

All employees and employers or their representative associations are required to notify Department of Labor authorities of any dispute capable of causing a work. stoppage, giving the cause of the disagreement and the solution desired. These authorities will then proceed to try to arbitrate the question. If they do not succeed within 10 days, conflicts involving "fundamental" activities will be submitted to a labor court, which must hand down a decision within 20 days. (Brazil has a complete system of local labor courts, the

members of which are appointed by the Ministry of Labor from employers and employees of the area. Over these courts are regional superior labor courts and a National Labor Court.) In the case of conflicts involving "accessory" industries, strikes or lockouts may be resorted to if arbitration efforts fail.

Strikes by employees engaged in “accessory" activities before fulfilling the arbitration requirement, and any strike by employees engaged in "fundamental" activities will be considered a grave offense, and will justify the cancellation of labor contracts. Lockouts or the suspension of services resulting from labor disputes inflicted before complying with the procedures outlined in this law, or the failure of employers to comply with the decisions of labor courts will carry the penalty of paying double wages.

El Salvador's new law on labor conflicts (issued in January 1946) prohibits, like that of Brazil, work stoppages that will interfere seriously with the welfare of the people as a whole. No strikes or lockouts are allowed among those engaged in furnishing "public services." This includes government workers, those supplying transportation facilities, and all those "essential to the functioning of enterprises that cannot suspend their services without causing serious and immediate danger to the health or economy of the country."

In any labor conflict, workers or employers must file a statement of grievances with the Departmental Inspector of Labor before a strike or lockout may be called. The Inspector will transmit this statement to the employers or workers against whom the strike or lockout is proposed, and await their answer to it. Both employers and employees will appoint representatives to a Conciliation Board, which will be presided over by the Inspector. This Board will proceed to try to reconcile the

differences between the parties involved in the dispute. If it fails to do so within 30 days in the case of a strike and 15 days in the case of a lockout, and a work stoppage occurs, the Board will issue a decision as to whether or not it is legal. If a strike is declared illegal and the workers disregard the decision, their contracts may be cancelled after 24 hours' notice, and employers may hire new workers.

The decision of the Conciliation Board may be appealed to the National Labor Council, and that of the latter may be appealed to the Minister of Labor.

At any point in the proceedings, the parties concerned may decide to submit the conflict to the voluntary arbitration of a freely chosen person, commission, or tribunal, in which case both parties will be obliged to accept the decision of the arbiter.

It will also be possible for workers or employers to present conflicts to the Departmental Inspector of Labor without setting the date for a strike or lockout. When this happens, three inspectors and two advisory commissions, one consisting of employers and one of workers, will be appointed after the setting up of a Conciliation Board. The inspectors will make a complete study of the establishment involved, requesting from all authorities, institutions, or persons the information they need. The Board will then make its decision as to a decrease or increase in personnel, adjustment of wages, salaries, or working conditions, etc., on the basis of the report of the inspectors.-M. G. R.

São Paulo's Casa Maternal

One of the most important social welfare institutions in São Paulo is the Casa Maternal of the Brazilian Legion of Social Assistance, which devotes itself to protecting the health and well-being of

mothers, children, and families in general throughout the city. Between January 25, 1944, when it was established, and April 30, 1946, it is reported to have helped a total of 5,721 families.

Among the services maintained by this institution is a Centro para Noivas, which trains brides-to-be in the responsibilitiethat will be theirs in the moral, intellecs tual, social, and civic formation of their future families. The girls attend fourmonth courses in nutrition, home economics, and "educational orientation." The latter course is designed to help them in training their children.

Another service is that offered to mothers-to-be in the form of pre-natal consultation and medical, educational, and economic assistance aimed at assuring the safe birth of sound, healthy children.

The Casa Maternal has a special section for the children of the mothers it assists. When necessary, such children are provided with orthopedic equipment, glasses, medicine, nutritious food, and hospitalization in the 30-bed children's pavilion.

Attached to the Maternity Section (which has 200 beds and can handle 7,200 cases a year) are nutrition and diet divisions. Public dining rooms are maintained in order to facilitate use of the Casa's services and to help in teaching the proper eating habits.

In spite of its specialized services, the Casa does not lose sight of the need to assist the family as a whole. Temporary financial help is given to families in the form of clothes and money for food and medicine, and legal aid is afforded them in the adoption or legitimation of children, the civil or religious validation of marriages, etc. In order to make sure of the permanent value of its work the institution maintains a staff of home visitors who make regular follow-up visits to the homes of former patients and students.

Social service organization for

Brazilian workers

Brazil's National Confederation of Industries has been charged with establishing an Industrial Social Service Organization in that country. This organization will be responsible for promoting the social welfare of industrial workers, helping to raise the general standard of living, and developing a spirit of cooperation among the different classes. It will work for improvement of the real wage of the laborer in the form of better food, homes, and health, and will try to increase his educational and cultural opportunities.

All industries belonging to the National Confederation of Industries, as well as transportation, communications, and fishing industries, will be obliged to contribute to the organization a sum equal to two percent of total wages paid each month. The organization will be directed by a National Council, presided over by the President of the National Confederation of Industries, and will also have Regional Councils in various sections of the country.

Cultural agreement between

Brazil and Peru

President Dutra of Brazil has signed a decree placing his stamp of approval on a cultural agreement signed in Rio in July 1945 by Brazil's Minister of Foreign Relations and Peru's Ambassador to Brazil.

This agreement provides for the cooperation of the two governments in facilitating an interchange of university professors and members of scientific, literary, and artistic institutions, who will give lectures in their respective fields. In addition, each country is to establish a permanent cultural information center in the other's capital, and each is to offer

to students and professional people of the other, ten scholarships for study in its educational institutions.

The agreement also provides that secondary school certificates of either country will be accepted by the universities of the other, and that both secondary school and university students in Peru may transfer freely to corresponding schools in Brazil, and vice versa. The diplomas of professional people will be reciprocally recognized.

In order to increase the reciprocal knowledge of traditions and cultural development, a special extension course on Peru will be created in the University of Brazil's School of Philosophy, and a course on Brazil will be established at the University of San Marcos in Lima. Each government will sponsor translations of carefully selected literary works of the other country. The national libraries of both republics will have special sections devoted to the official publications and the outstanding literary, scientific, technical, and artistic works of the other.

Laurence Duggan heads Institute

of International Education

In October 1946 the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education unanimously elected Laurence Duggan as Director. In assuming the directorship, Mr. Duggan follows his father, Dr. Stephen Duggan, founder of the Institute and for the past twenty-seven years its Director until his recent retirement.

When the Institute was founded in 1919, it was a pioneer in the field of international educational relations. Since that time a total of 7,634 students have been exchanged upon scholarships under the Institute be tween the United States and other countries. The Institute has been responsible, moreover, for an exchange of some 300

university professors and men of affairs as lecturers in American and European colleges and universities. Its conferences on problems of international education and its publications have been recognized as invaluable in most countries of the civilized world.

Mr. Laurence Duggan was graduated with distinction from Harvard in 1927. He went to the Institute in 1929, at a time when inter-American cultural cooperation was almost non-existent, to establish the Latin American Division. In this connection he traveled extensively throughout Latin America to initiate the program of student exchanges. In 1931 he joined the Division of American Republics of the Department of State and in 1935 became Chief of the Division and later the Secretary of State's Adviser on Political Relations. In 1944 he left the State Department to become Assistant Diplomatic Adviser to UNRRA. His work has been primarily in the Latin American field, but he has also traveled in Europe and his interest in international cultural relationships is world-wide.

National honorary society created in El Salvador

The Government of El Salvador has recently created the National Order of José Matías Delgado, membership in which will be conferred upon the chiefs of state of friendly nations and upon Salvadoreans and foreigners who make outstanding contributions to the country, either through extraordinary civic services, or through humanitarian, scientific, literary, or artistic work. The order, named for one of the fathers of El Salvador's independence, will include five grades: the Grand Cross, Gold Plaque; the Grand Cross, Silver Plaque; High Official; Knight Commander; and Offi

cer. The first mentioned will be awarded only to chiefs of state and to very eminent Salvadoreans.

Not more than twenty-five Salvadoreans may be admitted to the Order, and no Salvadorean may be admitted while he is holding public office. The President will head the order, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will act as Chancellor and chairman of the Council. Other members of the Council will be the Ministers of Culture and the Interior and the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

National Council of Education in Ecuador

to

A National Council of Education, function as a technical branch of the Ministry of Education, was authorized in Ecuador by presidential decree on August 9, 1946. The Council consists of five members: the chief of the technical department of the Ministry, and representatives of public education on the primary, secondary, and higher levels, and of private education. It will meet twice a week to study problems relating to the orientation of national instruction, advise the Ministry on questions submitted to them, and render an opinion on the law. regarding classification and salaries of teachers. Members are at liberty to visit any educational institution in the country, and to request any information they find necessary. Salaries of the members will be fixed by the Ministry.

Fourth Mexican Book Fair

Seventeen foreign countries and 164 Mexican and foreign book and periodical publishers and sellers took part in the Fourth Mexican Book Fair and Journalism Exhibition held in Mexico City during the period June 4-27, 1946. These figures in