INSTRUCTIVE PAPER BY MR. D. H. GILMAN.

In connection with the propaganda of the Pan American Union to stimulate interest in the preparation for the opening of the Panama Canal, it is gratifying to read the article written by Mr. D. H. Gilman for the Railway and Marine News, of Seattle, Washington, entitled, "What Should We Do to be Prepared for the Opening of the Panama Canal?" Copies of this interesting article can be secured by persons who will address Mr. Gilman, care of the paper mentioned.

THE UNITED STATES MINISTER TO HONDURAS.

Charles Dunning White, the newly appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Honduras, succeeds Fenton R. McCreery at that post. Born in Ithaca, New York, November 5, 1868, he attended the public and private schools and graduated from Princeton University in 1891 with the degree of bachelor of arts. He then studied law for a time in New York, after which he pursued post-graduate studies at the Universities of Berlin and Jena. Mr. White devoted the next several years to literary work in Europe, and then entered the diplomatic service of the United States as secretary of the legation at Buenos Aires in 1904. He served three years at this post when he was transferred, also as secretary, to the legation at the Netherlands and Luxemburg. On December 21, 1909, he was again transferred to the legation at Christiania, and on March 31, 1910, he was named secretary of the legation at Habana, also serving as associate secretary to the secretary general of the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration Tribunal at The Hague in 1910. From secretary of the legation to Cuba, Mr. White was promoted to his present post of minister to Honduras.

OPINION OF VICE CONSUL CHANDLER.

In the pamphlet published by the National Association of Manufacturers, describing the sixteenth annual convention held in New York, May 15, 16, 17, 1911, Mr. Charles Lyon Chandler, one of the representative and able consular officers of the Department of State of the United States, recently appointed vice and deputy consul at Callao, Peru, makes the following kind reference to the Pan American Union:

The Pan American Union in Washington is a very beneficent thing. It is a great storehouse of knowledge and information, and it is practical information. Mr. Barrett recently remarked, and he said he had facts and letters to prove it, that in the last year they had been able to increase South American business $50,000,000 by giving people the information they required. Letters come into that bureau that are answered in two days, whereas it would take two months to write down to South America and get the information, and they might not have got it as well.

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Honduras.

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CELEBRATION

ENEZUELA is the fatherland-the patria--of Bolivar. This fact must never be forgotten. Indeed, it could not be forgotten, and in 1911 it received noticeable emphasis, as the year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the declaration of Venezuela's independence, in which Bolivar played such an essentially important part.

Bolivar had been called the Washington of South America by such a good friend of the Latin Republics as Henry Clay. Lafayette, in 1825, was the bearer of a medal of Washington, a gift of the family to the Liberator, and this he always wore on his breast. On the beautiful statue of Bolivar in Lima, the first to be erected on the Andes (1846), the only medal to appear was this portrait of Washington, and since that date all statues and busts of Bolivar bear the effigy of his northern prototype. While Bolivar, therefore, is one of the heroes of mankind in the struggle for liberty, he belongs to Venezuela; his name stands first in their National Pantheon. Through his struggles the nation was developed. Consequently, in celebrating their 100 years of independence, the nation honored Bolivar as well.

How the Venezuelans celebrate their centennial is well worth recording. There was a happy combination of reverence and devotion to the past, of substantial acknowledgment of the accomplishment of the present, and of foundations for both intellectual and material activity in the future. The official program covered the days between June 24 and July 24, with July 5 as the central date, the middle of the semana magna-the great week-in which the old century drew to a close and gave way to the new one. Those who know Caracas, the capital of the Republic, and have once realized the beauty and charm of the city in the valley; those who also have experienced the delightful and unrestricted hospitality of the people, and know how they have retained the inherited Castilian politeness and added to it a sprightliness born on the Western Hemisphere, will understand how attractive that celebration must have been. The formal program prepared by the Government for the people of Venezuela was delightfully supplemented by many social functions in which all could participate. The dedication of public buildings, the solemn processions along the streets and avenues, tne exercises in park and pantheon commemorative of national heroes and events,

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Bolívar is the national hero of Venezuela, and his memory is revered throughout the Republic. Washington is held in similar regard, because of his part in the American Revolution and of the strong attachment between him and Bolivar. Lafayette was devoted to both of them. By his aid the family of Washington presented to Bolívar a medal of Washington given to him by the American people, and a medallion containing his portrait and a lock of his hair. These treasures were worn by Bolivar until his death, but they now belong to the Government of Venezuela.

and the gala performances in the theaters, in open squares, and in clubs or private houses, all these were national in character, but, attended as they were by special ambassadors and other visitors from abroad, they became as a reality quite international in effect.

Marble bust of Simón Bolívar, presented by the Venezuelan Government 'he Pan American Union, and which occupies a position in the Gallery of the Fatriots.

The list of ambassadors, special representatives, and those officially connected with them, is a long one. Many of these had ladies with them and were accompanied by associates, secretaries, and attachés.