the present situation of Chile. The organization will be formed by the joint efforts of the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Relations and Commerce, Development, Agriculture, and Labor. There will be an advisory commission which will meet at least once a month. The new Council will have the advice of a committee composed of the following officials: the Superintendent of Banks; Superintendent of Insurance, Corporations and Stock Exchanges; Presidents of the Central Bank of Chile, of the Institute of Mortgage Credit, of the National Savings Bank; the Director of the Nitrate and Iodine Sales Corporation; Director of State Railways, and the Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce in Santiago and Valparaiso. This advisory committee will also include ten representatives of the Federation of Industry and Commerce. With respect to this last group of ten persons, these have been selected to represent the following organizations, respectively: National Association of Agriculture; southern agricultural associations; Association for the Development of Industry; the Chamber of Commerce of Chile at Santiago; the Central Chamber of Commerce at Valparaiso; National Mining Association; Chilean Retailers Chamber of Commerce; Secretariat of Retail Commerce; Transportation Association; and Employers Union of Industry and Commerce of Chile. AGRICULTURAL CREDIT IN GUATEMALA An agricultural credit department has been established in the Central Bank of Guatemala which is to grant loans for the purchase of seeds, fertilizers, agricultural implements, and machinery; for clearing land for cultivation; for the construction and repair of agricultural works; and for the planting, cultivation, and harvesting of coffee, bananas, sugarcane, tobacco, corn, wheat, rice, beans, cacao, cotton, and ramie. The new department is also authorized to establish and manage warehouses for agricultural products, and make loans to sheep and cattle raisers. The loans will be made in open account, the rate of interest will be 6 percent per annum, and the loan periods will range from 6 months to a maximum of one year in the case of loans for the cultivation of corn, wheat, rice, beans, and bananas, and 5 years in the case of other crops. NECROLOGY EMILIANO GONZÁLEZ NAVERO.-A former President of Paraguay, Emiliano González Navero, died on October 18, 1934, in his 74th year. Señor González had not only been prominent in the Liberal Party, which he helped to found, but also held many government positions. Before beginning his political career, he had been judge of the lower courts and later a member of the Superior Tribunal of Justice. In 1895 his political career was begun with his election as senator; ten years later he became Minister of Finance. In 1905 also he was elected Vice-President of the Republic, becoming President in 1908 to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor. He served again, as Provisional President, for several months in 1912. Before retiring to private life some years ago, he had served another term as senator, followed by a period in the cabinet, in which he held the portfolio of War and the Navy. DR. MARTÍN F. SOSA.-After an operation in a New York hospital Dr. Martín Felipe Sosa, Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama, died on October 26, 1934. Appointed by Dr. Harmodio Arias soon after he assumed the Presidency on October 1, 1932, Dr. Martin F. Sosa had discharged his difficult post in a manner which compelled recognition from the whole country. "It is seldom that people are so unanimous," said the Star and Herald of Panama, “as were Panamanians yesterday in regretting the untimely passing of the young man who was considered one of the mainstays of the Arias Administration and who in two years forged from a position of virtual political obscurity to that of one of the most distinguished members of the government of the Republic." In recognition of his services the National Government issued an executive resolution regretting the passing of this highly esteemed official, recommending his civic virtues to future generations, and ordering that the national flag be hoisted at half mast over all public buildings throughout the Republic. Official, political, and social institutions joined in the general expressions of mourning. At the time of his death Dr. Sosa was thirty-nine years of age. He was a graduate of Yale and Columbia Universities and before returning to Panama had been associated with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York. VÍCTOR MERCANTE. One of the Argentine delegates to the Second Inter-American Conference on Education which met at Santiago, Chile, in September 1934, Señor Víctor Mercante, died suddenly on September 20, 1934, while crossing the Andes on his way home from the meetings. Señor Mercante had an enviable reputation as an educator and psychologist not only throughout the Americas, but also in Europe. His abilities had been recognized in his own country, where he had held such high educational positions as Director General of Instruction, dean of the School of Educational Sciences (which he founded) in the University of La Plata, director of the Normal School, and member of the National Council of Education. For nearly 30 years he had been publishing studies in education and psychology which won him fame and honor. His unexpected death at the age of 64 is a great loss to the cause of education. |