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Educational, Scientific, and Cultural

Central Bureau of the International Map of the World on the Millionth Scale

Ordnance Survey Office, Chessington, Surrey, England

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The idea of publishing a series of maps on a uniform scale to cover the world was presented at the Fifth Geographical Congress at Bern in 1891 by Albrecht Penck, famous geographer of Berlin. Further discussions in 1895, 1899, and 1904 led to the adoption of a United States proposal made in 1908 that an international map on the scale of 1: 1,000,000 should be standardized.

At a meeting held in London in 1909 at which eight countries, including the United States, were represented there was adopted a set of specifications for the maps, together with a statement of the plan of international cooperation to be followed in the compilation and publication of the sheets comprising the entire map. At the second International Conference on the Map of the World held in Paris in 1913, it was agreed that a permanent central bureau for the exchange of data should be established.

Following World War I, the Central Bureau of the International Map of the World was established at Southampton, England, in 1921. At the outbreak of World War II, membership in the Central Bureau consisted of 41 nations and certain dependent areas. During the war, work on the map series by the Central Bureau came to a complete standstill, the office and files of the Bureau being almost totally destroyed by bombing in 1940.

The Central Bureau is now located in the British Ordnance Survey in Chessington, England, and a temporary secretary, appointed by the British Government, is engaged in the preparation of a statement on plans for the future. At the Sixteenth International Geographical Congress held in Lisbon in April 1949 the matter was dis

cussed, and great interest was evinced in expediting the production of the map. However, in accordance with a resolution adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July 1949, the Secretary General is examining the possibility of "the absorption or integration of the Central Bureau . . . into the United Nations" in connection with the determination to establish a cartographic office within the United Nations.

As of June 1949, maps covering about 40 percent of the land area of the world have been made in accordance with the established standards of the international map of the world.

MEMBERSHIP

The present membership of the Central Bureau is largely hypothetical. Only four subscriptions were paid during the last year. The prewar adherents were Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Belgian Congo, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eire, Finland, France, French West Africa, French Indochina, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Monaco, Netherlands, Netherlands Indies, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Portuguese Colonies, Rhodesia, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Union of South Africa, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The principal function of the Central Bureau is to serve as a liaison and information agency to assist the various governments in coordinating the publication of the maps. It keeps records of progress, promotes publication, distributes a limited number of copies of completed maps, and arranges for their sale.

STRUCTURE

The responsibility for carrying out the international map project lies with the governments and their cartographic institutions. The international conferences which meet to promote the project are usually held in conjunction with the quadrennial international geographical congresses. Decisions affecting the making of the maps are communicated to the governments for their guidance through the Central Bureau. Each map bears a French inscription and a translation in the language of the state publishing the map.

The present secretary, acting on a temporary basis, is Lt. Col. D. I. Burnett.

FINANCES

Each subscribing government is asked to pay £10 a year for the support of the Central Bureau. Because incoming subscriptions have been so few and unpredictable, no set amount was budgeted for the last fiscal year ending March 31, 1949.

UNITED STATES RELATIONS

Authorization. A joint resolution of Congress of May 1, 1926, provided for United States membership in the Central Bureau.1

Payments. Since 1926 Congress has appropriated the funds necessary to pay the annual subscription of £10, or about $50. The United States fee has been paid through the fiscal year 1948, except for the war years.

Agency Chiefly Concerned. The Geological Survey, Department of Interior, compiles and publishes the sheets of the map in the United States.

Participation. The United States has so far published some 6 sheets out of the approximately 40 which are required to cover this country; 10 other sheets are in process.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Although the Central Bureau of the International Map of the World on the Millionth Scale has no organic connection with any other international organization, it has grown up in close relationship to the International Geographical Union. The project was developed at successive international geographical congresses, and in later years meetings on the international map have been held in conjunction with the larger conferences. As described herein, the possibilities of the integration of the Central Bureau into the United Nations is now being explored.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

United States Participation: 44 Stat. 384; 46 Stat. 825; 22 U.S.C. 269a. International Map Committee. Resolutions and Proceedings of the International Map Committee Assembled in London, November 1909. London, Harrison and Sons, 1910. 23 pp.

Carte du monde au millionième. Comptes rendus des séances de la deuxième conférence international. Paris, Service géographique de l'armée, December, 1914.

Central Bureau of the International Map of the World on the Millionth Scale. Carte du monde au millionième. Rapport de 1928. Until 1935 an annual report was published which summarized the progress of the work in the member countries.

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Inter-American Statistical Institute

National Office of Vital Statistics, Washington, D.C.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The Inter-American Statistical Institute was created by Western Hemisphere members of the International Statistical Institute in 1940.2 Its basic instrument is the statutes, approved in that year and revised as of March 8, 1948. The General Assembly of the Institute held its first session at Washington, September 6-18, 1947, as a part of the international statistical conferences. Its second session is scheduled for November 14-26, 1949, at Bogotá, in connection with the Second Inter-American Statistical Congress.

MEMBERSHIP

The Institute has both institutional and individual memberships. Among the institutional members are Western Hemisphere governments, statistical societies, and business firms. The individual members are professional statisticians (elected by the General Assembly) who are nationals or residents of Western Hemisphere countries, and persons occupying certain statistical offices, who hold ex officio memberships during their terms of office. As of June 6, 1949, the number of members is as follows:

2 The International Statistical Institute, parent organization of the InterAmerican Statistical Institute, was founded in 1885 at London, as the successor of the earlier international statistical congresses held between 1853 and 1876, inclusive. Its membership has always been made up of leading statisticians serving in their individual capacities, and until recently its work was of semiofficial character. Thus it collected statistics from governments, drafted and sponsored international statistical agreements, and established international commissions to report upon important statistical questions at periodic international conferences. Numerous governments, including that of the United States, although not members as such of the Institute, have subsidized the work of its permanent office at The Hague.

At the twenty-fifth session held in Washington in 1947, by invitation of the Government of the United States, the Institute was reorganized to emphasize its professional and scientific responsibilities. This resulted from a recognition that the United Nations and other intergovernmental agencies were ready to perform many of the tasks for which the Institute had previously been responsible. The United States Government contributed $2,500 to the Institute's permanent office for the fiscal year 1949, on the understanding that this annual subvention would be terminated in that year unless the Institute's new activities should later provide adequate reason for the renewal of support for its program.

See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 116.

Institutional members

Adhering members (Western Hemisphere nations).

Affiliated members (statistical societies, central banks, etc.).
Sponsoring members (business firms, etc.)

Individual members

Constituent members (individuals in 21 Western Hemisphere nations)

Ex officio members (occupants of highest statistical offices of the Western Hemisphere, plus one representative of each adhering or other institutional member)

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Total number of members, all classes

166

The government of any Western Hemisphere nation may become an adhering member of the Institute by paying the prescribed annual dues. The adhering governments are listed on page 114 in data on Finances.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The Institute's purposes are (a) to stimulate improved methodology in the collection, tabulation, analysis, and publication of both official and unofficial statistics; (b) to encourage measures designed to improve the comparability of economic and social statistics among the nations of the Western Hemisphere; (c) to provide a medium for professional collaboration among statisticians of the Western Hemisphere; and (d) to cooperate with national and international organizations in advancing the science and administration of statistics.

STRUCTURE

Under its statutes, the Institute is governed by the General Assembly of constituent and ex officio members during its regular sessions and between sessions by the Executive Committee. The Committee consists of a president and four vice presidents, elected by the General Assembly to serve until their successors are elected. The Executive Committee chooses a Secretary General, who is, at present, Halbert L. Dunn. Official languages are French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

FINANCES

Budget. For the fiscal year 1950 the expenditures of the Institute were budgeted at $125,113 as compared with budgeted expenditures of $80,500 for the fiscal year 1949. The Institute has derived its income from members' dues and supplementary dues and from the sale of publications. Beginning with the fiscal year 1951, the expenses of the Institute will be included in the budget of the PAU.

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