President Batlle said, the Government must step in to help develop industrial wealth and also to give the workers social and economic independence.

Touching briefly on immigration, President Batlle said that although he had not yet studied the problem deeply, he knows there is a need for increasing the rural population. He called for a plan "which will permit us to bring in a strong nucleus of working people, men chosen with careful consideration of their occupations. Without people Uruguay cannot aspire to strong industries and a well-developed agriculture; without people it cannot develop its natural wealth. . .

"As you know," the President continued, "the Senate is putting the final touches to a bill creating a National Colonization Institute." He then urged the early passage of this law. "Establishment of large fertilizer factories must constitute a special chapter of the colonization law, since to colonize is not only to subsidize the land but also to enrich it. . . If we continue in this direction in the future, in the course of a few years we shall see our country transformed into one immense farm, offering excellent and varied. products."

The Government has already created an advisory commission to study the installation of small refrigerator plants throughout the country to conserve agricultural products, the President reminded his audience. "I would encourage, by all the means at my disposal, the decentralization of industries, channeling them toward centers of production in line with an elementary principle of industrial economy," he went on. "At the same time I would try to avoid the exodus of the rural population and to improve its standard of living."

"Cattle-raising," he said, "will be the object of the Government's special atten

tion. It is already in direct contact with all the representative groups of the livestock industry, which can be assured of my diligent collaboration to develop this important pillar of the national economy.”

Then President Batlle told his people that professional men would be provided with every opportunity to serve their country. "Agricultural experts, chemists, and veterinarians are today, more than ever, useful and necessary to direct agriculture and cattle-raising scientifically. Under my government, engineers will build more bridges, roads and highways; [they will carry out] irrigation projects and take advantage of waterpower to stimulate industry, commerce and culture. Architects will apply themselves to public works and good housing to create wealth, health, and work. Doctors, distributed throughout the country, will assure permanent health care and by modern techniques of immunization will provide collective prevention of infectious diseases. Finally, experts in the economic sciences will have an opportunity to advise the government on concrete plans directly affecting the national economy." . . . Even the rivers and the sea must be exploited to the fullest, the President added.

Pointing to his past record, the President called on public employees to look on him as a friend respecting their just rights, but at the same time demanding that they fulfill their duties loyally. The Cabinet Ministers, he told them, are now "formulating a project of administrative classification, with progressive salary schedules, not only as a protection but to guarantee a fair increase in salaries.”

"Fellow citizens," President Batlle concluded, "I will work with the greatest zeal and give the best that is in me. For I have always been taught to subordinate everything, even life itself, to the welfare of our country."

of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts, mostly of the Quito school. Quito under Spanish rule was a flourishing art center and exported many paintings and sculptures to other parts of Latin America.

Before the museum acquired a permanent home, it exhibited its collections in the lobby of the Sucre Theater; as its importance was realized and greater support was given by the government, the idea of acquiring a colonial house was considered. Of the few fine houses of that period remaining in Quito, Señor Delgado selected this one as an appropriate setting for the

Courtesy of Helen Parker

Courtesy of Helen Parker

THE PATIO, MUSEUM OF COLONIAL ART, QUITO

An imposing staircase colorfully tiled leads to the second floor.

Museum. It is his intention eventually to restore the interior to its original appearance, using the museum collections to furnish the great salas, chapel, bedrooms, and kitchens, so as to show how the Spanish noble and his family lived two hundred years ago. "You have your Mount Vernon," commented Señor Delgado; "we shall have this."

To take care of other aspects of art in Ecuador, there are plans to construct a building for a general museum, which will house collections other than Spanish colonial and contemporary arts as well.

The collections of the Colonial Museum had their nucleus in two private collections of colonial arts bought by the government. These are gradually being augmented by gift and purchase. Quite properly they emphasize the artists of Quito. Installed

with taste and sensitivity, the objects (not too many) are placed against the white walls of the spacious rooms, so that they are seen to advantage. To a visitor from the United States, used to the efficiently illuminated modern museum, the light may not always seem adequate as it filters in through door or deeply recessed window, but it is the light in which the artists created their works and the light in which their first owners saw them.

Among the most important objects are those illustrated. Caspicara, the 17thcentury Indian who carved so many of the altars and saints to be seen in the churches of Quito, is represented by a particularly fine Lady of Sorrows, extremely expressive in face and hands, delicately polychromed and dressed in the rich fabrics of that baroque period. Santa Rosa de Lima by