FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 109 



ARTICLE 30. The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends 

 the establishment and encouragement in institutions of specialized 

 courses in preparation for the diplomatic and consular services. 



The need of international law for the diplomatic service has already 

 been mentioned,, although briefly and in passing, but the Congress felt 

 that this subject was one of such grave importance that it should not be 

 passed over in silence. Therefore, Article 30 deals with preparation for 

 the diplomatic and consular services, and urges the establishment and 

 encouragement of specialized courses to render the services more valu- 

 able, both to those who make of them a career and to the countries to 

 which they belong. 



The place which international law occupies in the outfit of a diplomat 

 and in the daily duties of a consul is evident upon the merest consideration 

 of their functions, so evident indeed as not to require special mention. 

 And yet, in view of the fact that international law is largely a thing of 

 usage and custom, that diplomatic incidents have entered into and form 

 such a large part of the system, and that the question of peace and of war 

 has so often depended upon the mastery of international law by diplomats 

 and minister of foreign affairs, it seems necessary to enlarge upon the 

 importance of the subject, even although it be unnecessary to enter into 

 details. And what has been said of the diplomatic applies in no less a 

 degree to the consular service; for as the diplomatist deals largely with 

 what may be called political questions pending between the different 

 countries, the consul handles the great commercial questions which so 

 intimately concern the prosperity of nations. 



The Congress did not feel justified in recommending that training in 

 international law should be a prerequisite to admission to the diplomatic 

 and consular services, because this is a political question and one which 

 each country must necessarily determine for itself. In recommending, 

 however, specialized courses in preparation for the services in question, 

 it expressed in no uncertain terms the advisability of a thorough knowl- 

 edge of international law for any and all persons in the Americas who 

 might think of making of the diplomatic or consular service a career. 



ARTICLE 31. The Second Pan American Scientific Congress advises that 

 the study of international law be required in specialized courses in 

 preparation for business. 



Perhaps the Congress stated most unequivocally its appreciation and 

 conviction of the advantages of a training in international law in the 



