THE HEMISPHERE: Hail Colombia

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The Pan-American Union is still, after 58 years, the chief repository of the hemispheric idea. It files treaties, prepares conferences, continues to bring together such indifferent neighbors as the U.S. and Argentina on such everyday matters as the mails, hygiene, labor relations. In the Union's glittering marble palace in Washington last week, the governing board met to choose a new chairman. Their first choice: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Spruille Braden. He declined, on the grounds that the U.S. had held the post too often. Chosen instead, to serve till 1947: Colombia's representative to the Pan-American Union, Antonio Rocha, whose country will play host to the Union's next big party, the Bogota conference, scheduled for early next year.