70 FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 



the problems of the tropical forest. There is urgent need therefore for a 

 school of such a character. 



The Fourth Sectional Resolution, concerning trade specifications, 



follows : 



To bring about better utilization of the forests of the American countries 

 and to establish and extend their trade in products of the forest, it is recom- 

 mended that uniform grades and specifications for such products, based 

 upon the commercial qualities and uses of the various woods concerned, 

 be mutually adopted. 



There are considerable demands in the United States for cabinet woods, 

 dye woods, and other rare woods of Latin America. On the other hand, 

 Latin America imports large quantities of pine, fir, and spruce from the 

 United States. There would be a great deal of saving in the products 

 exported, and trade would be simplified and facilitated if uniform grades 

 and specifications were established of the products imported and 

 exported. At present boards are being imported into South America 

 of such sizes that they must often be resawed or cut over again in order 

 to be utilized in accordance with the customs of trade or building 

 requirements. The same is true of some of the forest products im- 

 ported into the United States. If specifications and grades were made 

 on the basis of the actual uses to which the woods are to be put in the 

 country of importation, much saving of material and better understand- 

 ing among traders would be accomplished and commerce in these articles 

 increased. 



The Fifth Sectional Resolution stated: 



I. That the development and use of water power is the essence of 

 conservation as applied to known sources of power; 



II. That increasing prices for fuels and their ultimate exhaustion 

 render advisable the use of water power wherever practicable in place 

 of power developed from fuel and lend special emphasis to the desirability 

 of making available undeveloped water power; 



III. That the development of central electric power systems as opposed 

 to isolated plants and the physical combination of such systems under 

 public control make for reliability of service and for the more complete 

 utilization of sources of power, and that the growth of the hydroelectric 

 industry along those lines is not only commendable but inevitable; 



IV. That the increased application of electric energy to everyday use 

 over a rapidly widening area of distribution and the natural monopoly 

 of the electric service inherent in the central electric power system and 

 their physical combination render essential, when the development is 

 made by private capital, a wise degree of public control of such systems 

 in order that the consumer, the operator, and the investor may alike 

 receive fair treatment. 



