raising of living standards; and B. C. G. vaccination in addition to but not as a substitute for recognized preventive measures.

Dr.

Because of the great interest in the major topic assigned to the delegation of Venezuela, namely The Children's Code (at the opening plenary session Machado had explained that the new Venezuelan Constitution made it necessary to adopt a new Children's Code, and that for this reason the Venezuelan Organizing Committee had assigned this topic to its own delegation, and hoped that the other delegations would review the draft and make suggestions), the Technical Commission on Social Welfare and Legislation divided into two subcommissions, one to deal with this topic and the other with those pertaining to the care of dependent children, organization of social services, and the child under social security. The code committee worked hard and long, even holding evening sessions that lasted until midnight, and was the center of interest of all delegations. As revised by the Technical Commission and approved by the Congress, the Code contains twenty separate headings and a brief preamble referring to the desirability of codifying laws relating to the protection of minors and recommending this proposed code to the American countries, subject to adaptation to the constitutional requirement and the social and cultural conditions of each country. A special vote of applause for the Venezuelan Delegation. for its official report on the Children's Code was proposed in the name of all the other delegations and unanimously approved by the Congress. The full text of the Code was included in the Final Act.

The eight-point recommendation subImitted by the United States Delegation as part of its paper on Organization of

Social Services for Mothers and Children was adopted by the Commission and approved by the Congress. It provides for:

(1) Recognition of the responsibility of government for child welfare by vesting in an appropriate agency the functions and authority required to initiate and develop social services for families and children; (2) participation by the National Government in the financing of such services; (3) efforts to improve general social conditions contributing to the strengthening and conserving of family life (adequate wage levels, housing, good standards of health and education, social insurances and social services); (4) emphasis on case work, or social service to individual cases; development of resources for helping children in their own homes; acceptance of the principle that the primary goals of institutional or foster care for children are those of substituting, for a brief time or longer, for the child's own home; (5) special training in social work to the greatest extent possible, for persons on the staff of organizations providing social services to families and children; (6) emphasis on coordination among social agencies and on cooperative community planning; (7) responsibility of agencies administering social services for children and familes to interpret their work in such a way that the public will understand and support it; (8) cooperation of national agencies responsible for development of social services for families and children with international efforts in behalf of the children of the world.

Inasmuch as the official reports submitted by Chile and Peru on The Child under Social Security contained no specific recommendations, a subcommittee of Technical Commission III was designated to prepare a resolution on this subject. The resolution recommends:

(1) That the suggestions and resolutions on social security adopted by the Eighth Pan American Child Congress in Washington and the First Inter-American Congress of Social Security in Santiago, Chile, be reaffirmed: (2) that social security plans recognize the importance of child care and protection and coordinate their provisions in this respect with the resources and plans of agencies in the fields of health, social assistance, labor, and education; and (3) that there be an active interchange of experience and

information on plans, programs, methods, and results among the American countries in matters pertaining to social security, child care, and protection.

The resolution on the welfare of abandoned or dependent children declares that the modern State should devote the most adequate possible resources to combating the causes of abandonment or dependency. It recognizes the part which social security plays in this connection and strongly recommends that assistance be given dependent children in their own. homes if possible, in suitable foster homes, or in institutions which can serve as substitutes. Institutions for dependent children should preferably be of the family or semifamily type. Punitive systems should be abolished in such agencies and each child admitted should be studied individually from the medical, psychological, educational, and social points of view. Governments should likewise stimulate the development of social services, with trained personnel, as the most effective auxiliary means of diminishing the evils of child abandonment. Uruguay's delegation received a special vote of applause for this contribution.

Other resolutions recognized the value of psychiatric services for children and the importance of appropriate psychiatric training for doctors, nurses, social workers, and teachers rendering professional services to children in their respective fields.

Technical Commission III, which was extremely active, reported comprehensive resolutions dealing with Education in Rural Areas, based on official reports from Colombia and Ecuador; on The Education of the Preschool Child, based on the official report of Cuba; on Progressive Education, and on The Care and Recreation of Children outside of School Hours. The ColombianEcuadorean contribution was also the subject of a special vote of applause, and

the resolution based on the Cuban report contained an important declaration in favor of the preschool child who was described as "still neglected, pedagogically and socially, in many American countries."

Another important declaration of the Congress was the Declaration of Caracas on Child Health. This was the result of a suggestion submitted by Dr. John D. Long, of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, to a meeting of the Governing Council of the American International Institute for the Protection of Childhood, held in Montevideo in April 1947. It had been agreed that Dr. Long and the Institute would prepare preliminary drafts for submission to the next Child Congress. The revised version approved by the Congress will be submitted to the Pan American Sanitary Bureau and the Institute for final review and approval before being distributed to all the American countries.

To a greater degree than ever before the Ninth Pan American Child Congress entrusted new responsibilities to the Institute. A Cuban resolution recommended that the Institute, in order to give greater stimulus and publicity to developments in the field of social service, develop a plan for a nation-wide competition in each country on the subject of the successful achievements of the country in this field. The winning paper of each country would be published by the Institute.

A United States resolution expressed the hope that the Institute might obtain sufficient resources to permit it to make a comparative study of the legal bases of child care, especially between countries. under systems of civil law and common law, and that the Institute plan the study and be in charge of it, with the assistance of an advisory committee of experts.

A Costa Rican resolution urged the Institute to consider the problem of children who cross national frontiers, on

their own initiative or at the instigation of others, for motives contrary to their interests and who should be returned to their homes.

The Institute was commended for the cooperation it had given during the past year in connection with the organization of seminars on social work in Medellín, Colombia, and Montevideo, Uruguay, under the auspices of the United Nations. It was likewise praised for the progress it had made in carrying out resolutions of the Eighth Pan American Child Congress dealing with inter-American cooperation, and was directed to consult with the Pan American Union and with interAmerican agencies operating in related fields as to the best way of carrying out resolutions and recommendations of the Ninth International Conference of American States relative to inter-American cooperation in matters pertaining to health, education, social services, and social insurance, as they affect children. Recognizing the importance of the problem of nutrition, and the efforts which international organizations are making to deal with it, both through the United Nations and various inter-American agencies, the Institute was asked to study ways in which the experience of the International Children's Emergency Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau can serve to promote efforts to raise the level of child nutrition in the American countries.

All of these resolutions of an interAmerican and international character, including the Declaration of Caracas on Child Health, were reported to the Congress by Commission IV on Inter-American Cooperation.

In view of the fact that more adequate statistics will be needed to enable the American countries and agencies to carry

out many of the resolutions of the Congress. a special resolution recommended that the agencies in each country responsible fo: taking the 1950 census arrange to obtain statistical data which will contribute to a knowledge of the real situation of the child in America. A copy of this resolution was to be sent to the Inter-American Statistical Institute for submission to the Organizing Committee for the 1950 Census which was to meet later in the year in Bogotá.

Looking ahead to the X Congress, a Brazilian resolution urged that participating countries report not only on their achievements and the extent to which they may have given effect to the recommendations of the Ninth Congress, but on the most urgent needs and deficiencies with which they are faced in their work for children.

The hope was expressed that the Tenth Congress might meet in Bogotá. The final designation is made by the Pan American Union and the American International Institute for the Protection of Childhood.

The closing session was devoted to the signing of the Final Act and to a final address by the Minister of Education, Dr. Luis Beltrán Prieto, which left with the visitors from other lands a new sense of the efforts which Venezuela is making to bring education within reach of all her people.

Just before adjournment, the President of the Congress announced publication of a series of Blue Books (Cuadernos Azules). Number one of the series, which was distributed to all of the delegates, was a compilation of the final acts of the entire series of the Pan American Child Congresses, from the Second Congress through the Eighth. It is the first time that these documents have been thus compiled.

Specially arranged tours made it possible

October 1931 at Rio de Janeiro; and the first prize of $10,000 was awarded on that occasion to Joseph L. Gleave, of Edinburgh, for the great white structure that will shortly rise beside the Ciudad Trujillo harbor.

The project was approved by the XII Assembly of the League of Nations, and at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, meeting at Buenos Aires in 1936, a resolution was adopted urging all nations to make prompt contributions toward erection of the monument. In 1946, the General Assembly of the United Nations, at its London session, unanimously approved the project.

The immense modernistic structure will be built in the form of a recumbent cross three-fourths of a mile long, its head pointing to the west to symbolize the

course taken by the Admiral. For a lighthouse, it is comparatively low, rising 120 feet, and this height and its massive construction will make it both earthquakeand hurricane-proof. Its powerful beacon will throw perpendicular rather than the usual horizontal rays. Inside, there will be a library and a museum of interAmerican exhibits. The ashes of Columbus, now in the ancient Cathedral of Santo Domingo, will occupy a place of

honor.

On the morning of April 14, the President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Rafael L. Trujillo, made an address from the Presidential Palace which was broadcast to a nation-wide audience and heard over loud-speakers by the crowds assembled at the site of the lighthouse. President Trujillo commented that "the sig