Associations in a variety of projects, promotion of national bibliographies and the exchange of publications, and certain publications and services in abstracting. UNESCO will also cooperate in promoting the establishment of an International Council of Professional Archivists.

Among a large variety of projects in Education, highest priority is given to the following: fundamental education; adult education, including an international conference; a conference on university education; three seminars for teachers, on teacher education, the education of preadolescent children, and education about the United Nations; teaching for international understanding; improvement of textbooks; consultative educational missions to be sent on request to member states.

The field of Cultural Interchange includes the International Theatre Institute, the proposed International Music Institute, and the International Pool of Literature; steps to promote the cheap reproduction and exchange of works of art, including music and films; the translation of great books; round tables on philosophy; and the stimulation of international organizations in these fields.

The inquiry into social tensions is one important part of the program in Human and Social Relations. Associated with this will be a philosophical analysis of current ideological conflicts and a study of the humanistic aspects of cultures from the point of view of their mutual relations. Other phases of this comprehensive program will be the study of problems in the social sciences arising in the development of international organization; the study of the methods of political science; the stimulation of inquiries into the social implications of science; and the preparation of books on the scientific and cultural aspects of the history of mankind.

In the Natural Sciences UNESCO will continue next year its program of Field Science Cooperation Offices, and it will further stimulate the establishment of the Institute of the Hylean Amazon. A major part of the science program will be carried out by grants-in-aid to international organizations. UNESCO will also convene conferences on high-altitude research stations and on the protection of nature.

Many specific projects and detailed plans have been omitted from this brief survey. The complete program is contained in a document of over 30 mimeographed pages.1

Much careful thought went into the shaping of this revised program. The scheduled projects are clear and precise. Reasonable estimates, although necessarily tentative, have been made concerning the expense of each project to be undertaken. The program is perhaps too extensive, but its very extent indicates that UNESCO is becoming the center of a vast network of international collaboration in education and science and culture.

LUTHER EVANS DISCUSSES ISSUES AT MEXICO CONFERENCE

Luther H. Evans, Librarian of Congress, member of the National Commission of UNESCO and adviser to the U.S. Delegation to the Mexico City Conference, in a broadcast on December 10 and again in an interview with a Washington Star reporter reviewed the work of UNESCO's 36 member states at Mexico City. Dr. Evans served on 4 out. of 14 working parties and was rapporteur of the working party on mass media.

"The issue of the free flow of information through press, radio, and films generated as much heat as any problem we faced at the Conference", Dr. Evans stated in his broadcast. ". . . It is hard for Americans to believe it but many Europeans fear what some call 'American cultural imperialism' and they saw in the American effort to remove barriers an attempt to dominate world communications. They quickly became convinced, however, that no such intention existed and accepted our proposal for removal of barriers."

"Occasion for the main flare-up of diplomaticstyle rivalry", Dr. Evans told the Washington Star, "was the resolution proposed by Poland to prohibit war-mongering in member states by legal measures. The United States refused to agree to this on the ground that such controls could not be imposed in this country in time of peace." Dr. Evans praised the action of the Conference in reaching agreement on a statement of principle directed against war propaganda. The final version, which was based on a French resolution, omitted any clause which would have encouraged the imposition of censorship either domestically or on an international scale.

T

HE Commission on Administration and External Relations was one of the two major commissions of the Second Session of the General Conference of UNESCO. The Commission held 21 meetings and dealt with such disparate matters as the administrative organization of the UNESCO Secretariat, the budgetary and financial practices and regulations of the organization, and the relations of UNESCO with member and nonmember states and with semigovernmental and nongovernmental organizations.

The rapid growth of the Secretariat of UNESCO in 1947 to some 550 persons presented the Commission with a number of difficult problems. The Commission was much concerned with both the quality and the geographic distribution of staff members of the present Secretariat. It was pointed out that the staff of the Secretariat includes 212 French, 166 United Kingdom, and 54 United States nationals. All other countries were scantily represented, if at all. The Director General was instructed to take all possible steps to remedy this lack of balance. He was furthermore instructed to institute as soon as possible a review of the experience and qualifications of the present staff members.

In an attempt to improve the morale of the staff, which is working under extremely difficult conditions, and to assure them fair treatment, the Commission recommended a survey of present salary scales and allowances, the initiation of a longterm appointment policy, the establishment of a well-stocked commissary for staff members and of an effective housing service, and other practical steps.

Considerable time was spent on budgetary and financial relations. The United States Delegation strongly objected to the form of the budget as presented by the Secretariat under general chapter headings and modified it to conform generally to a program type of budget. The Conference finally

adopted a compromise resolution which provides that as far as possible future budgets should be established on a program and project basis, it being understood that certain general overhead items will appear separately in the budget.

The Commission enthusiastically ratified the decision of the Executive Board to establish an "Advisory Committee of Experts on Administration and Finance." It is believed that this Committee can do much toward the improvement of the administration of the Organization.

Another financial question much discussed was that of providing grants-in-aid for voluntary associations. It was felt that the control of funds for grants-in-aid should be tightened; the financial regulations were consequently amended to require approval by the Executive Board for such grants as well as for any payments made to nongovernmental organizations for special services rendered.

There was considerable gratification at the fact that the accession of new states to membership in UNESCO made it possible to reduce the scale of contributions of all 1947 member states proportionately. The U.S. contribution was reduced from the 44 percent paid in 1947 to 41.83 percent for 1948.

In order to strengthen the position of UNESCO in the major cultural regions of the world, careful consideration was given to the possibility of establishing regional offices. The Conference endorsed the establishment of such offices but felt that during 1948 special attention should be given first of all to the strengthening of the central structure of the Organization in Paris and of the national commissions and similar cooperating bodies. It was decided that only one regional office should be established in 1948 as a "pilot" project, possibly in Cuba.

In determining future relations with states not members of UNESCO the Conference decided on a new course. It reasserted the principle of uni

versality of membership and expressed its regret that there are still a large number of states, including members of the United Nations, which continue to remain outside UNESCO. At the same time the Conference decided that such universality of membership could best be achieved if it was made clear that nonmembers would not be entitled to the benefits and privileges enjoyed by members. In the past such benefits had been made available to members of the United Nations even though they did not join UNESCO. In the future no difference is to be made between members and nonmembers of the United Nations which, while eligible to membership in UNESCO, have made no effort to acquire such membership. Aid in educational reconstruction will not be offered to such states.

In this connection the Conference gave special attention to the problem of relationship with Germany and Japan, neither of which are eligible to membership at the present time. The Conference recognized that the reeducation of these coun

tries is in the interest of a lasting peace and therefore of UNESCO and its members and accordingly instructed the Director General to enter into negotiations with the appropriate Allied authorities in Germany and Japan in order to ascertain the ways in which UNESCO might be of assistance in the reeducation of the German and Japanese people. A Polish proposal to extend aid to exiled Spanish children and students was adopted, it being understood that Franco Spain will remain barred from

UNESCO.

The Conference went on record as supporting the fullest possible implementation of the agreements with the United Nations and those specialized agencies whose interests and activities are related to the purposes of UNESCO, paying special attention to such organizations as the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The Director General was furthermore (Continued on page 10)

T

HE FIRST two statewide UNESCO conferences held in the United States were conducted simultaneously in December in Kansas and Oklahoma. The first, organized under the auspices of the Temporary Kansas Committee on UNESCO, was held at Wichita, December 11 to 13. The second, sponsored by the University of Oklahoma, was held at Norman, December 12 and 13. Ben M. Cherrington, director of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver and a member of the National Commission, and Charles A. Thomson, Executive Director of the UNESCO Relations Staff, Department of State, were speakers at both conferences.

The following description of the Wichita meeting, written by Peter Wyden, appeared in the New York Times:

Close to 1,000 delegates and observers from schools and clubs, churches and colleges came here over icy country roads from every section of the state and paid their own way to attend a two-day session at which they formed a permanent Kansas Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

"Actually, the new phenomenon on the great plains is probably due more than anything else to two accidents, one of personality and one of geography. First, Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower, president of Kansas State College, an outstanding agricultural institution, is chairman of the National UNESCO Commision. He is available to further a regional movement and Kansans will naturally rally to support an experiment headed by one of its favorite native sons.

"Second, the first regional UNESCO conference was held last summer in near-by Denver. As a result, projects similar to the commission just established here are now bobbing up in Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah. A regional meeting for Pacific States is planned for next spring. .

"The delegates resolved to support a summer camp for 300 children in France, Greece or Czechoslovakia and endorsed a proposal for improving library services."

The Kansas State conference was organized by Robert A. Walker, head of the Institute of

Citizenship at Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. Luther Leavengood, chairman of the UNESCO Projects Committee, initiated local UNESCO programs and prepared a comprehensive pamphlet entitled "Handbook on UNESCO Projects" which received highly favorable comment from the delegates present.

In addressing the meetings, Mr. Thomson stated:

"The Mexico City Conference was no romantic love feast of good-will. It reflected the ideological differences, the national and regional rivalries which characterize our world of today. But beneath the differences there was the underlying assumption that agreement must and could be found.

"The meeting in Mexico and the discussion on the place of the next session brought out a new significance for the General Conference. Hitherto it had been viewed mainly as an annual meeting, at which the program and budget and other matters of business would be approved. But the experience at Mexico City indicated that the UNESCO General Conference may become an educational event in itself, an eloquent demonstration of what UNESCO can do.

...

"There is first the expectation of the war-devastated countries that UNESCO will help them in the urgent task of educational and cultural reconstruction. . . . Second, the so-called "undeveloped" countries look to UNESCO to assist in bringing them abreast of other areas in educational advance and the application of science. Third, there are those who expect UNESCO to forward the development of the arts and sciences, for the enrichment of all and the general welfare of mankind. Fourth, and finally, we in the United States particularly view UNESCO as the agency to

promote the search for a common ground of understanding, and to fortify the cause of peace and security by the aid of the world's resources of educational, scientific and cultural cooperation."

Mr. Thomson pointed out that the Director General had been instructed to provide in the UNESCO Secretariat facilities for direct communication among National Commissions and to make greater use of those bodies in the recruitment of personnel and carrying out UNESCO's program.

The Oklahoma State UNESCO conference, which was attended by more than 700, was sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and was organized by the Temporary Oklahoma UNESCO Council under the leadership of R. R. Tompkins of the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mining College. Eugene S. Briggs, president of Phillips University, acted as chairman of the program committee, and R. Boyd Gunning, director of the extension division of the University of Oklahoma, supervised the conference.

Among those addressing the plenary sessions were George L. Cross and R. J. Dangerfield, president and vice president, respectively, of the University of Oklahoma, and Mr. Briggs. Although a State UNESCO unit was not formed, the group enlarged the Council's membership from the 40 who participated in the Mountain-Plains Regional Conference in Denver last May to more than 100. The same officers were chosen again for the forthcoming year.

New Zealand Establishes UNESCO
Fellowships

The Minister of Education of New Zealand has announced the establishment of a fund of £15,000 (approximately $50,000) for study in New Zealand by students from war-devastated countries.

The grant was made as part of New Zealand's contribution to UNESCO's educational reconstruction program and will be administered by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. Fellowships will be given to three types of persons: postgraduate students for whom facilities for advanced study are not available in their own countries; undergraduates who would benefit from a full university course in New Zealand; and trainees in social-welfare work.

W. W. Loomis, National Commission
Member, Dies

The National Commission notes with deep regret the death of one of its members, William Warner Loomis, of La Grange, Ill. Mr. Loomis' death occurred on the evening of December 9, while he was en route to his home from Chicago on a commuter train.

A prominent member of the National Editorial Association, Mr. Loomis represented that organization on the National Commission for UNESCO. He has served as managing director, treasurer, and later president of the association.

At the time of his death, Mr. Loomis was president of the Citizen Publishing Company of La Grange, which publishes the La Grange Citizen, the Western Spring Times, the Riverside News and the Brookfield Magnet. Previously he had edited several weekly newspapers in Iowa.

Commission Schedules February
Meeting in Washington

The first meeting of the U.S. National Commission since the Second Session of the UNESCO General Conference at Mexico City will take place in Washington, February 17 and 18. Milton S. Eisenhower, chairman, will also preside at the meeting of the Executive Committee on the previous day.

The Commission will hear reports on the Mexico City Conference from William Benton, chairman of the U.S. Degelation, and other Delegation members.

The Program Committee of the National Commission, under the leadership of Waldo G. Leland, will discuss the implementation of the 1948 UNESCO program in this country and the practical problem of assigning UNESCO projects to American institutions and organizations. Top priority will again go to educational reconstruction in the war-devastated countries.

The second day of the Commission's meeting will be taken up with discussion of possible regional UNESCO conferences during the coming year, the establishment of state and local UNESCO councils, and the problem of relating the work of the National Commission to that of other U.S. groups interested in the United Nations, its specialized agencies, and other international movements.