NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD — BENNETT 7I 



Agriculture, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, 

 Department of the Interior, Smithsonian, and the New School for So- 

 cial Research. Dr. Park acted as chairman and kept informal minutes. 



10. COLONIAL QUESTIONS CONFERENCES (aPRIL 20, I943; 

 MAY 4, 1943; MAY II, 1943) 



This series of three conferences was arranged by the Board and 

 the Analysis Section, Military Intelligence Division, G-2. These were 

 all-day conferences, and at the close of one session the Board invited 

 the group to be its dinner guests. The discussions were directed to- 

 ward broad colonial problems. The first session was devoted to 

 Oceania and Indo-China ; the second, to West and Equatorial Africa ; 

 and the third to general problems. About 20 people attended each 

 session, although the representatives were not identical at all three. 

 The Army, Office of Strategic Services, Board of Economic War- 

 fare, State, Tariff Commission, Commerce, and Archives, were always 

 represented, and some special speakers from the universities were 

 invited. 



A detailed agenda for discussion was sent out in advance of each 

 meeting. For example, the discussion outline for the second session 

 was the following : 



I. Strategic importance of West Africa. 

 II. Economic importance of West and Equatorial Africa. 



A. Commerce. 



B. Investments. 



C. Aviation. 



D. Access to raw materials. 



III. The question of nationalism. 



IV. The possibility of international controls. 



At each meeting the major topics were first introduced by three 

 speakers and then opened to general discussion. All discussion was 

 considered confidential, but detailed minutes were kept. At the end 

 these were summed up in a confidential document entitled "Political 

 Possibilities in the Relation of the United States to the World's Colo- 

 nial Systems." 



The dinner conferences held by the Board were very successful in 

 their primary purpose of bringing together people with mutual in- 

 terests. Specialists in one agency met colleagues in another agency, 

 and these introductions were frequently followed by personal meet- 

 ings and discussions. Furthermore, the conferences were excellent 

 publicity for the Board in its early days. Restrictions on food and res- 



