76 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I07 



agency, this was not a vital necessity in that anticipation of needs was 

 in itself important. Three trial projects were suggested at that meet- 

 ing, and one was selected for immediate execution, namely, a confer- 

 ence on Bolivian Indians. This was not only considered to be impor- 

 tant in itself, but would also serve as a model for other such projects. 



Tlie proposal was to assemble a number of scholars who had spe- 

 cialized knowledge of Bolivia in order to discuss those factors in the 

 Indian's culture which were pertinent to the problems of (i) utilizing 

 the Indians as industrial labor in the mines, (2) inducing the Indians 

 to increase the agricultural output of Bolivia. The importance of the 

 first problem was self-evident, particularly in 1942 when the produc- 

 tion of tin was a paramount war necessity, when several groups were 

 considering social insurance and security factors for the new tin con- 

 tracts, and when the Indian laborers had still not expressed their own 

 dissatisfaction with mining conditions by the series of strikes which 

 followed later. Needless to say, it took merely an informal discussion 

 to induce the Office of Strategic Services to request the project. 



Since this project was to serve as a model, it was organized with 

 overemphasis on formality. The Director wrote to the Provost 

 of Yale University requesting sponsorship of the conference, the 

 Ethnogeographic Board to cover all necessary expenditures. The 

 Provost agreed. A letter of invitation was sent to five specialists 

 (Bernard Mishkin, Weston LaBarre, Ernest Maes, Alfred Metraux, 

 and Wendell Bennett), together with an outline of the purpose and 

 of tentative points for discussion. The conference was held in New 

 Haven in September 1942. Its chairman wrote up an account which 

 included not only the concrete conclusions, but also a general resume 

 of Bolivian Indian culture as a background for nonprofessional 

 readers. This was sent to the conference members for corrections 

 and additions. The final report of 35 pages was mimeographed and 

 distributed by the Board. Total time, 6 weeks ; total cost, about $100. 



Even the final report was considered to be only a preliminary state- 

 ment intended to provoke further discussion. A total of 94 copies 

 were distributed, as shown in the table on page 62. The report went 

 to Government agencies with Latin American divisions, to the Spon- 

 sors, and to a number of individuals representing such organizations 

 as the International Labour Office, the National Planning Associa- 

 tion, and the Inter-American Indian Institute. Although intended 

 as a sample of the type of work which academic institutions might 

 undertake, only the immediate sponsor, Yale University, received 

 a copy. 



