FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. Jl 



The subcommittee on Conservation of Water for Power, subsection 3 

 of Section III, in preparing the draft of resolutions which were passed 

 by the subsection and later by the section, and therefore called Sec- 

 tional, in order to distinguish them from those acted upon by the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, included only those principles which have been 

 accepted by all factions interested in the development and utilization 

 of water power and the conservation of natural resources. It is be- 

 lieved that these principles, which are the result of active agitation 

 as to the policies proper to water power and general conservation, 

 and which have been adopted as thoroughly sound rules of action 

 by federal and state governmental agencies in both the United States 

 and Canada, will in time be recognized also in the countries of Central 

 and South America. The resolutions did not, however, contemplate 

 cooperative action by the American countries, and for that reason 

 it was not necessary for the Congress to adopt them in the form of 

 recommendations to the American Republics. 



After this formulation of the fundamental principles involved in the 

 conservation of natural resources, and without whose acceptance 

 governmental action would be futile, if not impossible, the various 

 resolutions passed by Section III, presented by it to the Congress and 

 approved by this body and incorporated in the Final Act, will now be 

 taken up. The first of these is the ninth article, which precedes these 

 general observations. 



Considerable capital from the United States is now being employed in 

 the development of the natural resources of Latin America, particularly 

 the timber resources. Governmental agencies are constantly receiving 

 requests from prospective investors in Latin America for information 

 as to the extent and character of the resources in timber of that remark- 

 able continent. While all available information has been compiled, it is 

 not adequate to furnish the facts desired. On the other hand, Latin 

 American countries are desirous of attracting foreign capital for the 

 development of their resources, and if they possessed better and more 

 accurate knowledge of these resources, they would, of course, be able to 

 present more definite propositions to the capitalists seeking investments. 



Aside from the purely commercial aspect of the situation, an important 

 scientific interest is also attached to the exploration of the forest flora 

 of Latin America. There are probably a number of species of trees 

 which might be found to be economically important to the United States ; 

 and a knowledge of the distribution and growth of forests under new 

 climatic conditions would add many new facts to the proper under- 

 standing of the laws of forest growth in general. 



