I AM sure that most of you have long been thoroughly familiar with the origin and development of what was called, until Bogotá, the Inter-American System. You also know, probably better than I, the problems that have existed and still exist in the relations of the States making up this Organization, whose Charter has just been approved by the Ninth InterAmerican Conference. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the Pan American Union as the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States to disseminate as widely as possible information on the work accomplished at Bogotá. And I am sure you will agree that it is fitting, at any time, to review the juridical bases of the association of American republics in order to strengthen our faith in its achievements.

With this in mind, we have decided

Lecture delivered at the Pan American Union, May 24,

1948.

to hold this series of lectures, which will be continued during the next two days by Dr. Manger, the Assistant Secretary General, and the Director of our Department of International Law and Organization, Dr. Fenwick. The series is not intended as a substitute for the information that members of the Council of the Organization who were at Bogotá will offer the public next fall. We had hoped that they would give their accounts first, but their official duties required some of them to return to their countries and report to their governments on the results of the Ninth Conference. Others found more pressing matters awaiting their return to Washington. And so we were prevented from organizing immediately for the general public, and especially for local university professors and students, a complete lecture course on the Organization of American States, its problems, and its eventual development. Moreover, at this time the

university year is drawing to a close and the summer sessions have not yet started. In the fall, therefore, we shall have a better opportunity to hear official interpretation of the decisions of the Ninth Conference.

So dramatic and swift are the strides made by Pan Americanism in recent months, that if I had had the pleasure of speaking to you last year I could have dealt only with proposals and projects, with the plans of the American states to develop their organization further. Today, on the other hand, I can tell you of a duly established Organization of American States with a Charter that already is largely in operation and that now confirms the legal existence of a de facto system that has been functioning since the First International Conference of American States, which met at Washington fifty-eight years ago. From one point of view, then, this is the most enduring, earnest, and effective arrangement of its kind the world has ever known. At the same time it is the newest, since its Charter was signed barely a month ago. This document culls the fruit of more than half a century's experience, and yet it is absolutely up to date. That is to say, it is an instrument perfectly compatible with the United Nations, and in fact it is destined to complement and round out some of the provisions of the San Francisco Charter, in the drafting of which every nation of the Western Hemisphere, without exception, had a part. A year ago, moreover, two important treaties had not yet been concluded by the American republics, that of Reciprocal Assistance signed at Rio de Janeiro, and the American Treaty of Pacific Settlement, which together complete the framework of the international organization that governs the activities of the states in this part of the world. Two inter-American conferences, meeting in Rio and Bogotá, have accom

plished all this, the consummation of half a century of efforts, some barren and others fruitful. I believe that this answers fully the question sometimes raised in the United States as to whether or not the Ninth Conference at Bogotá was a success. The fact is that the Organization of American States is today, in spite of its shortcomings, the most perfect instrument of its kind that has ever existed between soverign nations. The Charter, in comparison with any analogous document of any era, is the most advanced that has been signed spontaneously, in complete unanimity, by the 21 states associated under its provisions to enjoy the rights they concede to one another mutually and to meet the obligations that they assume therein.

Of course the true significance of these international agreements has hardly been conveyed to the reader of the daily press, and many of you may be surprised to hear that events of such consequence took place at the conference in Bogotá. Some of you may also think that, in my position as an official of the Organization of American States, I might have a natural tendency to exaggerate the importance of these accomplishments, which the press and radio have not presented in the same light. I should like to make it clear, therefore, that I accepted my post only because for many years I have held the conviction that the modern course of inter-American relations represents humanity's most extraordinary and successful experiment by a group of nations living together in dignity and peace. The same thing is true of the United States' exemplary role within our organization; this country's unselfishness, nobility of purpose, and good faith in its international dealings should be a matter of pride for all Americans. There is no doubt in my mind that the inter-American organization, while producing reciprocal benefits for the two great ethnic groups