Courtesy of the Pan-American Union.
Arrival of Secretary Root at Rio de Janeiro.
The International Bureau of American Republics was founded as a result
of the first Pan-American conference. The original plans of the
founders were not carried out owing to a lack of interest on the part of
the Department of State as well as in the foreign offices of the South
American countries. Secretary Root determined to make this bureau an
efficient agency for bringing about better relations between the two
continents. He defined the main purpose to be not only to build up trade