men proceeded up the Orinoco to its juncture with the Caroní, on which formidable falls blocked their way. After various operations on the mainland, in the course of which Berrio was released, Raleigh returned to England and gave glowing accounts of the lands he had seen.

In 1603 Raleigh was arrested and thrown into the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned off and on for 13 years. Released in 1616, he prepared a fleet of ten or more vessels and set sail the next year for the Orinoco, with the expressed intention of going to "a gold mine in Guiana," reportedly near the place he had reached on his previous journey. Raleigh stayed in Trinidad-some accounts say he was ill-while his lieutenant Keymis, with young Walter Raleigh and about 400 men,

went up the river and attacked a little Spanish fortress called San Thomé. They managed to take the town but could not hold it. Young Walter Raleigh was killed, and Keymis and the survivors returned to Trinidad. Keymis committed suicide; Raleigh sailed for England and was beheaded in 1618, on the old charge of

treason.

Although other explorers followed Raleigh, "the Orinoco," as Kirkpatrick says in The Spanish Conquistadores, "third of the great South American rivers, was the last of the three to yield its secrets; and the country traversed by its countless tributaries remained little known until the Spanish missionaries of later generations established their posts and gathered their Indian neophytes into villages."

President Bustamante of Peru delivers

his annual message

ON July 28, 1947 President Bustamente went before the Peruvian Congress to give an account of Government activities during his second year in office.

essence of

ECONOMIC POLICIES.-The Peru's economic problems, according to the President, is the failure of production to keep up with the ever-growing demand for goods and services. In an effort to increase production, the Government has lifted many of the wartime restrictions on the sale and transportation of agricultural and mineral products and has guaranteed farmers fair prices for their goods. Ceiling prices have been kept on all essential articles to protect the public from the speculation that is usually occasioned when demand exceeds production. A new decree, promulgated only a few weeks before President Bustamante's speech, reorganized and strengthened the whole system of price controls.

Confronted with a serious shortage of foreign exchange, the Government has carefully regulated its distribution, limited imports, and made every effort to increase exports.

The President pointed out the need of attracting more foreign capital to help transform the country's hidden natural resources into "active public and private wealth." He devoted considerable time to the key problem of increasing petroleum production. If the petroleum industry can be expanded in spite of the keen competition from other countries that has developed in these postwar years, President Bustamante feels that an important step will have been taken toward getting a

favorable balance of trade and balancing the budget. He urged the Congress to pass the new petroleum law and the contract with the International Petroleum Company that have been drawn up with

this end in view.

Government efforts to discover new sources of coal have been crowned with success in the Paracas area. Plans are now being made to step up gold production through granting more concessions to domestic and foreign firms and getting more labor to gold-producing areas by means of a carefully planned colonization program.

OVER-ALL PLAN OF ACTION.—“One of the greatest evils of our national life," said the President, "is the lack of a plan of action that coordinates all types of activities and directs them gradually toward a common goal." The Government has drawn up such a plan of action for the next four years, and the Chief Executive proceeded to outline it for the Congress.

The plan calls for five broad sets of new laws. The first set will be designed to streamline public administration and protect the rights of the citizens; the second will govern relations between capital and labor and help raise the standard of living of workers; the third will provide for the material progress of the country in the form of new schools, railroads, highways, hospitals, housing units, etc.; the fourth will furnish the basis for a more efficient handling of the country's finances; and the fifth and last set will guide the development of agriculture, mining, and industry.

SOCIAL WELFARE.-In outlining governmental efforts to protect the nation's "human capital," the President spoke first of the all-important public health cam

paign. The Government has installed water supply and sewage systems in a number of communities, and now hopes to interest private capital in carrying on such projects in towns and villages throughout the country.

A Department of Industrial Hygiene has been created in the Ministry of Public Health to help protect the workers from occupational hazards. Every effort is being made to alleviate the serious shortage of hospitals. Plans are being completed for a whole system of new ones distributed in accordance with population density and health conditions in the various areas.

Successful campaigns against malaria have been carried on in the city of Chimbote and in the Mala, Cañete, Camaná, Sama, and Locumba Valleys, with D. D. T. spearheading the attack on the mosquito. Tuberculosis is also being vigorously combated; highlights of the fight against this disease mentioned by the President are the construction of a new sanatorium near Lima and the study now being made of better methods of assisting the families of tuberculosis victims.

The Ministry of Public Health is trying to expand the country's facilities for training doctors and nurses and for sending them abroad for specialized studies.

Turning to the problem of housing, the President spoke of the model housing units being built by the National Housing Corporation in the nation's principal cities. He pointed out that in the furnishing of adequate housing, as in that of water supply and sewage systems, it is hoped that private capital will carry on where the Government has to leave off. "The work of the Corporation is intended more as an example than as a panacea."

EDUCATION. One of the chief preoccupations of the Government at the present time is the education of the country's

Indian population and the incorporation of this group into national life. This task, said the President, requires the united efforts of the Ministries of Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Development, and Labor.

An important accomplishment of the year was the general reorganization of secondary education. Under the new plan the number of studies as well as the number of class hours per subject is considerably reduced. Provision is made for directed study during school hours and homework is eliminated.

As far as primary education goes, the chief problem is not one of setting up new plans and programs, but of getting the many inadequately trained teachers to understand and carry out the excellent ones already on the books. Therefore the Ministry of Education is preparing a Manual for the Peruvian Teacher, explaining the prescribed programs, which will be distributed throughout the country.

There is still a serious shortage of schools, school furniture, and educational supplies. Until plans are completed for the large-scale school construction program that is necessary, the Ministry is using its limited funds to build schools where they are most urgently needed.

Technical education continued to move forward during the second year since its complete reorganization. The location of technical schools is no longer governed by political motives but by the economic needs and aptitudes of the various regions of the country. About $450,000 from this year's budget was used for the purchase from the United States of equipment for training purposes. There is still a great lack of teachers and materials in this field. Some 600 teachers have to distribute their efforts among hundreds of thousands of boys and girls. The President pointed out the need for more cooperation among

the various Government agencies concerned.

MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS.-In reviewing the activities of the armed forces during the year, the President spoke of the army's new policy of raising much of its own food, thus improving the nutrition of the troops, giving them practical agricultural training for civilian life, and relieving the strain on civilian markets. Another army innovation was the formation of a company of road workers which will cooperate with the Ministry of Development in making the Huánuco-Pucallpa highway an all-weather road. During 1948 the army will supply two battalions of road workers to construct roads in zones where there is a labor shortage.

FOREIGN RELATIONS.-Turning finally to foreign relations, President Bustamante said that Peru continued its close political commercial, and cultural cooperation with other countries. "The Government went on lending its support to the Inter-American system and to the United Nations," he said, "convinced that both organizations (which are complementary and in no way mutually exclusive) are destined. to safeguard the well-being and security of this hemisphere and of the world."

Message of the President of Mexico

With people throughout the nation gathered about radios in their homes or near specially installed loud-speakers in places of business and public meeting places, President Miguel Alemán of Mexico addressed the Congress on September 1, 1947, to review his first nine months in office. While the message was unusually short, it was noteworthy for its clear approach to the problems confronting the nation.

The President attributed voters' increased civic conscience and greater en

thusiasm in the exercise of political rights to the Government's vigilance over electoral processes and its policy of nonintervention in the activities of political parties and groups. Among the most important legislative measures, the President included the granting of suffrage to women in municipal elections, increased ejidal rights, the creation of the Army-Navy Bank, the Federal Colonization Law, and the Irrigation Law.

He stated that clearance had been given to 5,000 immigrants, and that proper credentials were issued to 144,000 tourists. He also noted the creation of the National Motion Picture Commission to encourage production of good pictures of national interest.

The formation of an Interdepartmental Commission to regulate the emigration of Mexican workers and to make a working agreement with the United States Government has resulted in the transfer to the United States of 20,000 properly accredited workers and the registration of 25,000 already in the United States, the President said.

Mexico's participation in world affairs was governed by the fundamental Mexican standards-national dignity, respect for right, and international cooperation for human solidarity. The Italian peace treaty was signed, and Mexico participated in the discussion of the German peace. The country was active in the UN General Assembly, and continued its cooperation with the ILO. At the Rio Conference, Mexico stressed the fact that the meeting was of a juridical rather than a military nature. President Alemán spoke in particular of the importance of his exchange of visits with President Truman of the United States.

At the beginning of his administration, the President found the economy in a transitional stage, between conditions cre