When the Second Pan American Child Congress met in 1919, under the official auspices of the Uruguayan Government, Dr. Luis Morquio proposed the creation of an "International American Bureau for the Protection of Childhood" which should serve as a center in America for studies, action, and publicity, on all matters pertaining to children, and be "an official organism of all the countries of America which shall subscribe to it, having its seat in the city of Montevideo." The plan met with unanimous approval. The Third Pan American Child Congress reaffirmed this approval in 1922 at Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Morquio and his friends set to work to obtain official support, and in 1924 a decree of the Uruguayan National Council of Administration provided for the creation of the agency and appointed Dr. Morquio honorary chairman of a committee charged with drawing up a definite plan of organization and statutes for approval at the Fourth Pan American Child Congress,

Courtesy of Elizabeth Shirley Enochs

DR. ROBERTO BERRO

Director General of the Institute.

which was to meet in Santiago, Chile later the same year.

The plan and statutes were approved with slight changes, one of which was that the name of the proposed agency was changed from Bureau to Institute.

The following year, Senator Roberto Berro introduced the bill providing for the installation of the Institute in Montevideo, and after two years of preparatory work, the instrument providing for the formal installation of this unique agency was signed in 1927 in the office of the Minister of Public Instruction by the members of the Uruguayan Organizing Committee and by official delegates representing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The annual report presented to the recent meeting of the Council by the Director General, Dr. Berro, was evidence of the fact that "the flag of salvation of the American child," to use the words of Dr. Calvo MacKenna of Chile, is still flying bravely from the masthead, although it has had to weather many storms.

and

The adherence of Guatemala Panama during the past year brought to nineteen the number of countries members of the Institute. Only Haiti and Nicaragua have not yet joined. The Council voted to renew its invitation to the governments of these two countries to support the work of the Institute, as recommended by the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace.

Communications from the Pan American Union, urging the Institute to send a representative to the Ninth International Conference of American States in Bogotá, resulted in authorization of travel funds to permit the Institute's Director to attend this meeting. It was also agreed that the Institute should be represented at the Ninth Pan American Child Congress to

be held at Caracas, Venezuela, January 5-10, 1948. The next meeting of the Council will be held concurrently with the Congress in the Venezuelan capital. All members of the Council were urged to insure appropriate representation of their respective countries.

Plans for the Congress occupied an important place on the agenda of the Council meeting. The Institute has become the official organ of the Child Congresses, cooperating in preparations and assisting in the execution of Congress resolutions. A number of suggested additions to the program of the Congress were discussed and forwarded by the Institute to the Venezuelan Organizing Committee, a report from which indicated that it was already hard at work.

The Institute also expressed its deep interest in the work of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, particularly the International Children's Emergency Fund, and the Council approved a proposal to make this interest known to the Secretariat of the United Nations and to inquire as to the possibility of designating an observer who might keep the Institute informed concerning action taken by the United Nations affecting the health, welfare, and education of children and young people.

An interesting example of the type of service which the Institute renders to the governments of member countries was contained in the report of the Director General. This was the story of the translation of three publications of the United States Children's Bureau: Prenatal Care, Infant Care, and Your Child from One to Six. The first Spanish translation of these three publications was made by the Central Translating Division of the Department of State, under the program of the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation.

The publications attained wide circulation in the American Republics, where they were distributed through the American embassies and consulates, and were reprinted many times. Dr. Guillermo Morales Beltrami, technical delegate of the Institute for Chile, where for some years he has been Chief of the National Service for Protection of Infancy and Adolescence, pointed out that many terms familiar to mothers in Central America or the Caribbean area are not equally well understood in the Andean countries or along the Plata River. He suggested that future translations be reviewed by the Institute. Accordingly, when the Children's Bureau revised the English editions of its three "best sellers" to bring them in line with most recent experience in the United States, the Department of State entered into a contract with the Institute for new translations. The Institute engaged competent translators and their work was personally supervised by the Director General and the Secretary of the Institute, both of whom are pediatricians. The three texts were then forwarded by airmail to the technical delegates of the Institute in other countries for correction of terms. The results indicated the great variety of expressions in common use for such simple articles as the baby's bottle-and even for the baby himself and the Institute therefore compiled a glossary of these terms which has been appended to each of the three publications.

This new edition, like its predecessors, will be distributed through the American Embassies and consulates in the American Republics.

It was the privilege of the writer, as alternate technical delegate of the United States, to present to the Council meeting the first copy of the revised Spanish translation to come from the press. The new

edition of Your Child from One to Six thus served as a birthday present for the Institute on its twentieth anniversary.

The Director General reported that three countries, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Venezuela, had advised the Institute that they would take advantage of a provision in the statutes which authorizes a member country to contribute more than its minimum quota, and that two countries-Argentina and Mexico-have accepted the increased quotas assigned to them by the new statutes. Despite these promising developments, however, the Institute faced a deficit last year, largely because of a new Uruguayan law under which salaries of employees were increased. This indicated the urgency of getting all member countries to make their contributions regularly and of securing the adherence of the two non-member governments.

The Director of the Institute's Health Division reported that the study of rheumatic fever in the American countries had aroused great interest and had focused attention on the need for accurate statistics. Efforts to bring about compulsory reporting of this disease are being intensified. A resolution on the subject, sponsored by the Institute, was presented by the Uruguayan delegation to the recent Pan American Sanitary Conference in

Caracas. It was unanimously endorsed. The Institute Council was informed by the Paraguayan technical delegate that his country was the first to issue a decree putting the recommendation into effect.

The Health Division is now engaged in a study of the frequency, location, and effects of outbreaks of infantile paralysis on the American continent.

Financial difficulties have delayed development of the Divisions of Education and Social Service, approval for which was voted at the Council meeting in 1943. Plans for these will be discussed at the next meeting in Caracas.

Despite difficulties, however, the Institute has been moving forward. It has grown progressively in influence, activity, and usefulness. Its library has become the only inter-American research center of its kind. Its quarterly Boletín and monthly Noticiario circulate not only all over the continent but all over the world. Increasingly member countries turn to the Institute for expert information, advice, and service.

On the twentieth anniversary of its foundation the Institute is recognized as the unquestioned leader and supporter of efforts to promote the health, education, and welfare of the children of all the Americas.

ONE Sunday afternoon in February 1943, a concert of the music of Camargo Guarnieri was scheduled to open the newly instituted series of matinee concerts at the Pan American Union. The rising Brazilian composer, who, although only in his thirty-sixth year, was the recent recipient of the Samuel Fels prize for a violin concerto, had chosen as guest artist on his program his compatriot, Elsie Houston, a singer of note. What promised to be an event of musical significance and dignity was unfortunately never realized because of the sudden death of Miss Houston two days before the concert. Not until four years later, when Camargo Guarnieri made his second trip to the United States, was a concert of his works presented in the Hall of the Americas of the Pan American Union as one in the series of programs of the 1946-47 season. Senhor Guarnieri's music was interpreted by Eunice de Conte, Brazilian violinist, and Lídia Simões, Brazilian pianist, and by the Americans Nicki Galpeer, soprano, and Carleton Sprague Smith, flutist.

The program follows:

Music of Camargo Guarnieri March 9, 1947

I

Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, 1933
Sem pressa e bem ritmado
Profundamente terno
Impetuoso

EUNICE DE Conte
The composer at the piano