At the meeting in November he shall submit an annual report on the activities of the Bureau, its receipts and disbursements, its work and plans, proposing such changes as may, in his opinion, be desirable in order to improve the service and extend the sphere of action of the Bureau.

One week before the May meeting he shall submit an estimate of expenses for the following year.

In the absence of the Director, his duties shall be discharged temporarily by such employee as the supervisory committee may designate.

ART. 5. The positions in the Bureau shall be filled upon examination held in the manner prescribed by the internal regulations.

TRANSITORY PROVISION.

All previous regulations are repealed, excepting those pertaining to the number and duties of the employees and other matters relating to the personnel of said Bureau, which shall be subject to the provisions in force.

(13th of August, 1906.)

BUILDING FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BUREAU CF THE AMERICAN

REPUBLICS.

The Third International American Conference resolves:

1. To express its gratification that the project has been realized to establish a permanent center of information and of interchange of ideas among the Republics of this Continent as well as a building suitable for the library in memory of Columbus.

2. To express the hope that, before the meeting of the next International American Conference, the International Bureau of American Republics shall be housed in such a way as shall permit it to properly fulfill the important functions assigned to it by this conference.

(13th of August, 1906.)

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO SECURE FROM THE VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS THE APPROVAL OF THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONFERENCE.

The Third International American Conference resolves:

To reccommend to the Governments represented thereat the appointment of a committee responsible to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and composed, if possible, of persons that have been Delegates to some International American Conferences to the end that:

1. The approbation shall be obtained of resolutions adopted by International American Conferences.

2. The International Bureau of American Republics shall be furnished with all information necessary for the preparation of its work, and that

3. The committee shall exercise such further functions as the respective Governments shall deem proper.

(13th of August, 1906.)

SPECIAL SECTIONS OF COMMERCE, CUSTOMS, AND COMMERCIAL

STATISTICS.

ARTICLE 1. The Governing Board of the Bureau of American Republics shall create a special section dependent upon it, which shall be known as the "section of commerce, customs, and commercial statistics," and shall appoint as its director a specialist in these matters.

ART. 2. This section shall have as its chief object a special study of the customs legislation, consular regulations, and commercial statistics of the Republics of America, and shall impart within the shortest delay and at the latest one year before the meeting of the next International American Conference all information as to the measures to be adopted to the end of obtaining:

(a) The simplification and uniformization, as far as possible, of the customs and consular regulations referring to the entrance and dispatch of ships and goods.

(b) The uniformity of the bases on which the official statistics of all the American countries shall be formed.

(c) The greatest possible circulation of statistical and commercial data and the greatest development and amplification of commercial relations between American Republics.

(d) That the custom-houses of American countries shall indicate the duties to be paid on articles of importation, when samples of such articles are sent to them.

ART. 3. The committee to be appointed in each country, in conformity with the resolution approved by the Third Pan-American Conference at its session on the 13th August, shall be charged with the duty of collecting the data desired by the department of commerce, customs, and statistics of the Bureau of American Republics.

ART. 4. The Governing Board as soon as the information shall have been presented to them shall immediately communicate the same to the Governments of the American Republics, so that it may be duly studied and may serve as a basis for the instructions to be given to the Delegates to the Fourth Conference.

(16th of August, 1906.)

COMMERCIAL RELATIONS.

The Third International American Conference resolves:

ARTICLE 1. The International Bureau of American Republics, after due collection and study of the necessary material, shall elaborate a

project containing the definite bases of a contract which it may be advisable to conclude with one or more steamship companies for the establishment or maintenance of navigation lines connecting the principal ports of American countries.

ART. 2. These bases shall be communicated in due time to the sig natory Governments, so that they may instruct their delegates to the end that the next International American Conference may give its opinion thereon.

ART. 3. To recommend to the Governments represented at this conference that, with the aim of bettering the means of facilitating trade, they should conclude conventions among themselves, stimulating as far as possible a rapid service of communications by railway, steamer, and telegraphic lines, as well as postal conventions, for the carriage of samples, so that goods and commercial advertisements may circulate with rapidity and economy.

ART. 4. To recommend equally to the Governments of the signatory countries that they should seek to connect their railroads and telegraphic lines.

ART. 5. To recommend that goods in transit over the routes of communication of any country whatever shall be free from all duties, paying solely for services rendered by the adequate installations of the ports and roads passed over, on the same scale as such services are paid for by goods destined to the consumption of the country over whose territory the transit takes place.

(23d of August, 1906.)

CONTINENTAL RAILWAY.

The Third International American Conference resolves:

I.

1. To confirm the existence of the permanent committee on the continental railway; and

2. That the Governing Board of the International Bureau of American Republics shall be empowered to increase the number of members of the committee or to replace them, if necessary, in view of the information presented by the president of the former.

II.

1. That, with the object of contributing within the shortest possible time to the termination of the Pan-American Railway, each Republic when giving its support to the construction of lines destined to serve local interests, should follow, as far as possible, the intercontinental route.

2. That each State in which there are sections to be built should seek to organize associations of engineers destined to complete the plans, specifications, and estimates that shall serve to fix the amount of capital necessary to complete the construction;

3. That the Governments of the different States shall determine, as soon as possible, what concessions of land, subventions, interest guaranties on invested capital, exemptions of duty on material for the construction and rolling stock, and any other concessions they deem it advisable to grant; and

4. That the Governments shall designate a person or center that shall maintain itself in constant communication with the permanent committee on the continental railway, so as to impart to it and obtain from it information and data relative to the undertaking.

III.

To express its gratitude to that body for the zeal, intelligence, and perseverance which it has placed at the service of a work which will contribute to strengthen and will bring about the practical consummation of the unity of America.

(23d of August, 1906.)

FUTURE CONFERENCES.

The Third International Conference of America resolves:

1. The Governing Board of the International Bureau of American Republics is authorized to designate the place at which the Fourth International Conference is to meet, which is to be within the next five years; to provide for the organization of the programme and regulations and take into consideration all other necessary details, and to set another date in case the meeting of the said conference can not be effected within the prescribed limit.

2. It is recommended to the said Governing Board, within a year, if possible, to designate the date and place for the next conference, and to formulate the programme six months before the prescribed date.

(23d of August, 1906.)

STUDY OF THE MONETARY SYSTEMS OF THE AMERICAN

GOVERNMENTS.

The Third International American Conference resolves:

1. To recommend to the Governments that they cause to be prepared for the next conference a detailed study of the monetary system in force in each one of the American Republics, its history, the fluctuations of the type of exchange which have taken place in the last twenty years, the preparation of tables showing the influence of the said fluctuations on commerce and industrial development.

2. To recommend also that these studies be transmitted to the International Bureau of American Republics in order that the latter may prepare a résumé of the said studies, publish and distribute them among the several Governments at least six months before the meeting of the next International Conference.

(23d of August, 1906.)

NATURAL RESOURCES.

1. That the Bureau of American Republics be authorized to establish, as a part of its section of commerce, customs, and statistics, a special service destined to facilitate the development of the natural resources and means of communication of the various Republics of America.

To this end the Bureau is charged with the duty of gathering and classifying permanently all trustworthy information on the natural resources, projected public works, and legal conditions under which it is possible to obtain from the American Governments concessions of lands, mines, and forests.

This information shall be put at the disposal of the Governments and persons interested therein and shall be regularly published in the bulletins of the Bureau.

2. The Bureau shall be bound to render its services to the Governments of America, when any one of them shall demand such services, with a view to obtaining information that might be useful to it with regard to projected public works; and it shall preserve in its archives, at the disposal of interested persons, the plans and details of the said works.

3. The next International Conference of American States shall be invited to give full attention to the following subject:

The study of the laws that regulate public concessions in the various countries of America, in order to make recommendations to the American Governments what agreements or dispositions would best contribute to the industrial development and the development of the natural resources of the Republics of the continent.

In order that all the material necessary for this discussion may be gathered, the Bureau is hereby charged with the duty of presenting a special memoir to the next Pan-American Conference on the laws relative to the above-mentioned matters which are in force to-day in the various Republics of the continent.

(23d of August, 1906.)