The Third International Conference of American States

The Third International Conference of American States, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in July and August, 1906, differed in some important respects from the two conferences which had preceded it. While it was left to the conferences of Washington and of Mexico City to arrange their own programs and to determine upon their rules and regulations, and while no limit was set to the length of their sessions, all these matters had, in the case of the last conference, been settled beforehand by arrangement of the diplomats representing the American States in Washington who constitute the council of the Bureau of American Republics. A complete program had been worked out, containing all the subjects upon which joint action was considered desirable. A set of rules and regulations also had been adopted and the length of the session had been fixed not to exceed six weeks. The conference when it convened was, therefore, saved all the trouble and loss of time which a discussion of these matters would have made necessary had they been left to the conference itself. As a matter of fact the discussion of these preliminary matters consumed several months at both the conferences of Washington and of Mexico.