Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 81.djvu/1125

 81 STAT. ]

PROCLAMATION 3774-MAR. 31, 1967

1091

Proclamation 3774 PAN AMERICAN DAY AND PAN AMERICAN WEEK, 1967 By the President of the United States of America

March 31, 1967

A Proclamation

There is special meaning this year in the hemispheric tradition of P a n American Day. On April twelfth, for the first time in a decade and the second time in history, the Presidents and Heads of Government of the American nations will meet to fortify the foundation of the house of the Americas. Seventy-seven years ago we first joined our hearts and hands as brothers in a hopeful hemisphere. We pledged a common pledge— we dreamed a common dream. We have since translated that pledge into progress. And we have founded the Organization of American States as a firm framework for the fulfillment of that dream. We have recently strengthened that Organization by amending its Charter to meet the challenge that our changing times demand. We have extended our unique experiment in international living by welcoming into our membership the new nation of Trinidad and Tobago. We have enhanced the meaning of that experiment by forging within it an Alliance for Progress in which our goals for the good life are matched only by our desire to achieve them. And the impressive accomplishments of these last six years trace that desire's growing satisfaction. When the Alliance was formed in 1961, it was estimated that our Latin American neighbors could supply about 80% of the capital required. I n fact, they have done better than this. By the end of this year, the gross investment in Latin America will have totaled over $100 billion—and 95% of it will have been from domestic sources. This ability of our neighbors to save and invest in their own future is a most striking indication that Latin America can, with relatively modest external help, mobilize the resources needed for its own development—and thus strengthen the foundations of the house we share in this hemisphere. The cooperative spirit of the Alliance is bringing new-found confidence and hope into this house. —Per capita growth rates show that more and more countries are breaking the economic stagnation of earlier years. —Men, women and children are alive today who would otherwise have died. In ten countries, deaths caused by malaria dropped from 10,810 to 2,280 in three years' time. Smallpox cases declined almost as sharply. And new health centers and hospitals are growing everywhere. —Men whose fathers for generations toiled on land owned by others are now working it as their own. With U.S. assistance, 1.1 million acres have been irrigated and 106,000 acres reclaimed. 15,000 miles of road have been built or improved, many of them farm-to-market access roads. —For tens of thousands of families, the most fundamental conditions of life are improving. 350,000 housing units have been.

2 UST 2394.

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