for her support in her last years, and with it she has come to Washington to bring the petition of more than ten thousand Japanese women for the establishment of peace.

Very noticeable at all these international conventions and in the messages which have been exchanged has been the eagerness of the women of South America to establish more definite friendly relations with those of North America.

At the Geneva congress Professor Brunhilda Wien, of the University of Buenos Aires, said: "I regard it as the chief concern of the women of North and South America to establish such definite and permanent relationships that we can bring our countries closer together. The economic problems in trade relations and the diplomatic questions arising between governments can be helped immeasurably if we women understand one another and through ourselves come to know one another's countries."

Dr. Pauline Luisa, the delegate from the Government of Uruguay to the congress, was emphatic in presenting the request of her country for closer contact between women on the western hemisphere. The South American delegates announced that they were prepared to coöperate in a Pan-American conference, and plans were laid for one in Buenos Aires in 1923 with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt as the chief speaker.

A Pan-American Conference of Women

Now another step has been taken leading to more immediate action, for the National League of Women Voters has arranged to have a Pan-American Conference of women at the time of its own third annual convention, from April 20 to 29, in Baltimore. The Secretary of State, Mr. Hughes, the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Hoover, and Dr. L. S. Rowe, director of the Pan-American Union, are coöperating with the League in arranging for the conference.

The invitations to the governments of South and Central America to send delegates to this Maryland conference have been forwarded by the State Department through our own diplomatic representatives in those countries. It is hoped that the meeting may be representative of all the countries in this hemisphere, including, of course, Canada and Mexico.

Official entertainments are being arranged for the visiting women in Washington, in

Baltimore by Mayor Broenning, at Annapolis by Governor Ritchie, and at Bryn Mawr College by President M. Carey Thomas. Plans for a day's visit to Washington on April 28 include trips to the Capitol, the Pan-American Building, the Congressional Library, and the various embassies. Luncheons will be given to the visitors by members of the diplomatic corps and others in Washington. In Baltimore there is to be a large dinner on the evening of April 24, with speeches on International Friendliness. April 29 will be spent at Annapolis, where Governor Ritchie will give a reception, and in order that the visitors may see a girls' college there will be a trip to Bryn Mawr, where President Thomas will entertain at luncheon.

Not only are the Bryn Mawr College women interested in the conference. There are students from South America at a number of colleges in this country, including Smith, Wellesley, Radcliffe, Columbia, Vassar, and the Frances Shimer School in Illinois. These students have been invited to the conference, as well as a number of teachers and educators from Central and South America who are on study trips to this country. Resident teachers of Spanish in this country have volunteered their services as interpreters.

Mrs. Maud Wood Park, chairman of the National League of Women Voters, will preside over the conference. Of especial interest will be round table meetings for the exchange of information between the women of the various countries. These are to be presided over by women officials of the United States Government as follows:

Child Welfare-In charge of Miss Grace Abbott, Chief of the Children's Bureau, Department of Labor.

Education-In charge of Miss Julia Abbott, Kindergarten Division, Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior.

Women in Industry-In charge of Miss Mary Anderson, Chief of the Woman's Bureau, Department of Labor.

Prevention of Traffic in Women-In charge of Dr. Valeria Parker, Executive Secretary of the Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board.

Civil Status of Women-In charge of Mrs. Mabel Willebrandt, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice.

There is also to be a conference on the political status of women, in charge of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.

WIL

ILL the Balkan States ever become anything more than a source of trouble, a medium of new diplomatic entanglements and possible wars?

Has the war produced any fundamental change which will be a help to these troubled countries?

During the past five years the writer has been in a position to follow closely events in the Balkan States, especially in Jugoslavia. Perhaps the most important development that he observed among those peoples, as a result of the war, was the new desire for education. Their needs in this respect had been brought home to them. The lesson has permeated so deeply into the very hearts of the people that it cannot fail to bring about a real change in their national development. This influence is the hope, if not the solution, of the future peace of the Balkan States-possibly of Europe and the world.

Prior to 1914, few thought that any situation in the Balkans could result in a world war. Since 1914 the opinion has been ex pressed many times by keen observers and humorous critics that perhaps Europe has been "Balkanized." Whether this is true or not, the Balkans have unquestionably been "Europeanized."

This was due to the direct influence of Western civilization which was forced upon them. This change has taken place in a manner and to an extent considered impossible before the war and certainly beyond the hopes of the most optimistic student of Balkan affairs.

Present Desire for Education

For a number of years these peoples have been in close contact through military coöperation with the intellectual influence of Western civilization. They learned new methods of living and of thinking, and saw the development of European countries. This brought about a desire for a general education that has become almost phenomenal.

During the war the lack of general education among the peasantry of the Balkan States had a striking illustration, in the fact that the peasants could neither send word to their men at the front nor receive word from them. This object-lesson in the value of education has not been ignored.

Only the future can decide whether or not this new influence will make possible a self-protecting group in the Balkans—a sort of hope for the principle of the Monroe Doctrine in the Balkan States-or involve them in new entanglements.

Perhaps the most impressive indication of the possibilities of this influence is the almost pathetic endeavor to increase their facilities for education and to bring them the culture, literature, and methods of the West.

The opportunity for utilizing this influence for good in the Balkans has presented itself. The general culture and development so earnestly desired should be fostered, encouraged, and developed. This should be of interest to the peoples of all nations.

Elementary Schools of Serbia

The elementary schools were among the institutions in Serbia that suffered most from the effects of the war. Even before 1912 many districts were entirely without schools and the existing schools were wholly inadequate for the large number of children. who should be in school. But when the Serbs returned to their country in 1918 they found many of their schools entirely destroyed and others simply shells. The enemy was not content to take simply doors and windows, but the entire frames were taken as well, and even part of the masonry. Desks, furniture, etc., were used for firewood. All books and libraries were burned. Not only were the communities without school buildings, but without the means of repairing them.

In Serbia the Opstina, or the community, is responsible for the building of its schools and their maintenance. The teachers are paid by the national government a stated salary,

which is increased with length of service, and a maintenance allowance based upon the salary. In addition to salary and maintenance the Opstina must provide living quarters in the school or in an adjoining building for the teacher or teachers.

If the Opstina is too poor to build its school, it may appeal to the srez (the, town), the okrug (the district), or the state; but it is not obligatory for the national government to aid in building schools, although since 1918 it has contributed 6,000,000 dinars (equivalent to French francs) toward the repair of elementary schools, and anticipates further appropriations.

One of the greatest aids in the development and reconstruction of these elementary schools is the organization work which is being done by the American Mission of the Serbian Child Welfare Association.

Higher Education

One of the most vital problems of the Serbians after the armistice was the immediate necessity of offering educational facilities to the youth of their country. Their task seemed almost impossible but in spite of tremendous difficulties and the lack of funds and material for reconstruction, they met this problem in the most energetic and promising manner upon the return to their stricken country. The University of Belgrade was "patched up" and opened within a short time, and the University of Zagreb was opened to these people. University courses were started in temporary quarters in three new places, Ljubjana, Subotitsa, and Skoplje.

To-day in Belgrade alone the attendance at the University is almost 6300, as compared to 1500 to 2000 before the war.

In spite of its tremendous handicaps and the problems of finance, the government has made extensive plans for the development of its higher educational institutions. Plans for an entirely new university campus and building were practically completed in August of last year. These plans have been exceptionally well made and form a radical departure from the former Balkan institutions. The buildings will be ornamental, yet practical, and the plans embody many of the most modern features of Western construction. There will be a central water, light and heating plant, and other features which show advancement.

This project is to be entirely completed in six years, and will cost approximately 120,000,000 dinars, of which 20,000,000 has been voted by the Parliament to the credit of the University with which to commence work at once, and 20,000,000 dinars is to be given each year until its completion.

The new university campus is to be located on what is known as the grounds of Trikalishta, given by the municipality of Belgrade, and is in the form of a huge triangle. The library presented by the Carnegie Endowment is to have the place of honor in the center of this campus, and will be a memorial which will bring to the Serbian students of future generations a realization of the bond of sympathy and friendship with our country.

This will mark an epoch in the cultural advancement of these people, as practically all the technical and professional men were formerly educated outside their own country, through lack of proper educational facilities, and this limited the number who could receive such an expensive education.

means for

OWN in the Balkan country, in the "Old Serbia" section of the newly organized Jugoslav state, there is an American at the head of a relief organization, supported by the American public, who is doing a remarkably unique piece of public-health and child-welfare reconstruction work.

The reconstruction work of this American and of the organization that he represents is unique in that it is not conducted as an exclusive American "show," a sort of Lady Bountiful, free-gift agency, manned solely by Americans and operated and administered along American lines, with no thought of having it fit into the needs of the country and the customs of the people.

This American believes in having the people of the country work with him on the partnership plan. He is opposed to all free "hand-out" methods, firm in the belief that if the reconstruction job is worth while and is to be made permanent, the people of the country in which the reconstruction work is being done should participate actively in it.

In his own words, his interpretation of right reconstruction work is that "Whatever you induce a people to do for themselves is of infinitely more value than what you do for them."

Caring for Half a Million Orphans

When Dr. R. R. Reeder, the American in question, went to Serbia as the Overseas Commissioner of the Serbian Child Welfare Association of America, he found a mighty big job ahead of him. Serbia had emerged from the war with 500,000 war-orphaned children on her hands and most of them were sick and homeless. How to make adequate provision for this army of sick and homeless children most certainly was a problem. What could poor Serbia do, with all her hospitals despoiled and ruined by the enemy, with no trained nurses, and with only one doctor to every thirty thousand inhabitants?

Along with other American and British agencies, foremost among them the American Red Cross, the Serbian Child Welfare Asso

ciation of America heeded the cry for help and sent to Serbia Dr. R. R. Reeder, an expert in modern child-welfare and publichealth work.

Dr. Reeder, from the start, determined to "sell" his reconstruction program to the Serbians. He got

the Serbians to work with him on a partnership basis. Now they are contributing money and service to help solve their country's dual problem of the care of homeless children and the health of a war-stricken people. In his work Dr. Reeder is using Serbian organizations and is trying not only to get the money contributed in the most direct way from "producer to consumer," but likewise to build his whole constructive program into the permanent structure of Serbia's existing organizations and her own social institutions.

A LITTLE FELLOW WHO HAS KNOWN SUFFERING SINCE THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH

Of Dr. Reeder's program, Mr. Homer Folks, recognized internationally as a leading expert in child-welfare and publichealth matters, and who made a personal survey of the work in Serbia, has this to

say:

I happen to have been in a position where I have been called upon to consider and deal with many different programs of relief of war sufferers in several countries. Dr. Reeder's program for child welfare in Serbia strikes me as the high water mark.

Associated with Dr. Reeder in the work is an advisory committee of eminent Serbians, a number of sub-committees largely Serbian, a staff of American, French, English, and Serbian physicians, dentists, nurses, nurses' aids, teachers, social workers and interpreters. In every aspect of the work an American leader instructs a staff of Serbians in modern methods of coping with child-welfare, publichealth and educational problems, so that when the Americans withdraw, Serbians may be able to "carry on."

In the upper half of "Old Serbia," Dr. Reeder opened public health, child-welfare,

and educational stations in nineteen of the larger centers of population. In the operation of these stations Serbian public and private agencies coöperate most heartily.

A Record of Achievement

Here is a partial list of some of the work accomplished at these stations during the past year.

Twenty-two thousand of the neediest Serbian homeless children, through a generous donation of the American Relief Administration, have received shoes and winter clothing. The clothing material provided by the American Relief Administration was made up into garments by poor Serbian peasant mothers, to whom was paid a small wage.

aid.

Eight thousand orphan children have been registered for placement in family homes, where they are clothed, fed, medically and dentally treated, and provided monthly financial Thousands of other half-starved and sick children, not registered, have received assistance from the health centers and visiting nurses.

One thousand of the neediest and most anemic children received three weeks' open-air treatment, medical and nursing care in summer camps.

Three hundred orphan boys and girls have received industrial and agricultural training at the