Venezuela, an economic report / Presented by students of the School of Foreign Service, as an aid to the foreign trade of the United States

by Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service

The work of the students was supplemented by several entertainments, such as a luncheon given by the students of the Venezuela in the Normal School; a reception tendered by the Seminary of Caracas, with the attendance of the Archbishop and the Nuncio; a theatrical function in the National Theatre; a picnic in a grove called Los Chorros; a visit to an industrial exhibition where they learned of the remarkable progress made by that country in recent years; and finally a concert and theatrical performance by the College of San Francisco de Sales, at which the "Star Spangled Banner" was sung by the students and the United States flag and the Georgetown colors were displayed together with the Venezuelan flag.

On one occasion the Federation of Students held a reception at the School of Political Sciences in honor of the Georgetown students. Addresses were delivered by the president of the Federation and by your representative, who took occasion to describe some of the characteristics of student life in the United States, which could not but be of interest to students in other countries, terminating his remarks with the expression of a sincere wish for closer relations between the students of the University of Caracas and those of Georgetown.

The College of San Francisco de Sales from the first day opened its doors to the students of Georgetown, who found there a real home, and they certainly used it to their best advantage, playing tennis, baseball, and mingling freely with the students and the persons in charge of that institution. The Reverend Jerónimo Gordini, Director of the College, Dom Pardo and other professors of the establishment deserve the gratitude of our University.

The authorities of the Military Academy of Venezuela, realizing that most of the Georgetown students who were visiting that country had seen service in the United States Army, tendered them a reception on the Fourth of July, at which many distinguished ladies and gentlemen of Caracas were present. The cadets gave an exhibition drill, after which tea was served in the large hall of the Academy, which had been beautifully decorated with flowers in combinations representing the colors of the United States and Venezuela. The Director of the Academy addressed the Georgetown men, welcoming them cordially; and your representative answered in the following terms:

"Mr. Director, Officers and Students of The Military Academy, Ladies and Gentlemen:

"The idea of country finds expression in certain symbols which, powerfully impressed in the hearts of men, lead them to great deeds, even to the sacrifice of their lives, for principles radicated in their hearts and minds from childhood. Those symbols are the flag, the national anthem and the army.

"The army is a country itself, converted into a weapon of protection and defense, and is constituted not only of men who form the ranks of the present, but also of the glorious traditions of the men who have formed the ranks of days gone by.

"Armies are heirs to a rich legacy of honor, and in increasing that legacy and leaving it to their successors, they bequeath the noblest ideals of unsurpassed patriotism.

"Were we to institute a comparative study of the achievements of the armies of the various countries of the world, we should find that no one of them surpasses the Venezuelan army in the glory of its traditions. You are the descendants and the followers of those men who, under the guidance of Bolívar's mighty genius, traversed this continent holding aloft the flag of liberty, creating countries wherever they went, and writing with their own blood the supreme epic of South American independence. You students of this Academy are the hope of your country. She trusts you as a fond mother trusts in the love and protection of her vigorous growing sons. You have an inheritance of which you may well be proud. This inheritance imposes upon you a great responsibility. You are to increase it, never to imperil it. You will never, I am confident, tarnish the purity of Venezuela's glory by not exemplifying the highest ideals of life or by not striving in every way for the promotion of Venezuela's welfare.