hird conference within five years, and
committed the fixing of the time and place and the
arrangements for the conference to the governing board of
the Bureau of American Republics, composed of the
representatives of all the American nations in Washington.
That board discharged the duty imposed upon it with marked
fidelity and painstaking care, and upon the courteous
invitation of the United States of Brazil, the conference
was held at Rio de Janeiro, continuing from the twenty-third
of July to the twenty-ninth of August last. Many subjects of
common interest to all the American nations were discussed
by the conference, and the conclusions reached, embodied in
a series of resolutions and proposed conventions, will be
laid before you upon the coming-in of the final report of
the American delegates. They contain many matters of
importance relating to the extension of trade, the increase
of communication, the smoothing away of barriers to free
intercourse, and the promotion of a better knowledge and
good understanding between the different countries
represented. The meetings of the conference were harmonious
and the conclusions were reached with substantial unanimity.
It is interesting to observe that in the successive
conferences which have been held the representatives of the
different American nations have been learning to work
together effectively, for, while the First Conference in
Washington in 1889, and the Second Conference in Mexico in
1901-02, occupied many months, with much time wasted in an
unregulated and fruitless discussion, the Third Conference
at Rio exhibited much of the facility in the practical
dispatch of business which characterizes permanent
deliberative bodies, and completed its labors within the
period of six weeks originally allotted for its sessions.

Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions
reached by the conference, the example of the
representatives of all the American nations engaging in
harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion of
subjects of common interest is itself of great and
substantial value for the promotion of reasonable and
considerate treatment of all international questions. The
thanks of this country are due to the Governme