64009 Vol. 9 No.1 ] anuary 1955 Night Scene • INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION ExceTl'ts Irom address by Eugene R. Black at the Meeting o/Ministers 01 Finance or EcollOray at the Fourth Extraordinary Meeting 01 the Inter-American Economic and Social Council at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 24, 1954. There appears to be a real prospect, I am happy to say, that the Bank now may be jointed by an associated institution in the field of economic development. I am referring, of course, to the proposed International Finance Corporation. This idea has been vigoro.usl y espoused by the Latin American countries ever since it was first expressed three years ago. And their repeated and continuous support for the idea, at the Annual Meetings of the Bank and at many other international meetings, has been an impressive indication of the hopes with which this project is regarded in the Hemisphere. The recent decision by the Administration in Washington, to advocate in the Congress that the United States participate in the Coiporation, was a most welcome one to me, both officially and personally. I hope, and have every confidence, that other capital­ exporting nations also will soon declare their intention to support the Corporation. We in the Bank expect to move promptly in carrying the project forward, and to be able to present specific and detailed proposals to our member governments at an early date. Let me repeat, as I have said many times, that I personally am convinced that the Corporation will provide a valuable stimulus to international investment in the underdeveloped counuies. Its par­ ticular task, as you know, will be to find and to provide investment for private industrial enterprises. Its value will have to be judged, I think, not merely by the amount of its investments out of its own initial capital, but even more by the extent to which it can succeed in generating an even greater flow of capital from private investors. And I would expect Latin America to be for the Corporation a major field of operations. 2 HAPPY NEW YEAR by Marion Brooks January 1 was not always New In England the first visitor to a Year's Day. In fact, in early home following midnight brings medieval days March 25 was the with him the symbols of warmth usual date -- usual, because the and prosperity - coal, bread and actual day varied as our present salt -- and is heartily welcomed Easter Sunday varies. The because he -lets in" the New Year. Gregorian calendar (1582) re­ Traditionally he leaves by the stored January 1 to New Year's back door, thus representing the Day but it was not until 1752 when departure of the old year. the date was accepted by England In Scotland, New Year's Eve is that it became recognized through­ called "Hogmanay· and for the out the greater part of the world. children their cry of "Hogmanay· So much for dates. is like the "trick or treat" of our It is interesting, I think, to children on Halloween -- a not too note the wide difference that subtle means of getting cakes and exists in the observance of the fruit from neighbors. New Year. In reading up on One of the great sports events traditional customs in other in our country is the annual Rose lands I have become a veritable ,Bowl game which takes place in encyclopedia on the subject. I Pasadena and now, with the ad­ have learned of the strange and vent of TV, is witnessed by count­ exotic foods -- not the least of less millions, who earlier in the which are chrysanthemum leaves day are entranced by the beauty of cooked and served in a special the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. way -- which were always the There are several other Bowl piece de resistance on this par­ games which attract considerable ticular day. The more I read of the interest; among them are the Cot­ delicacy of the viands the hungrier ton Bowl at Dallas, the Sun Bowl I became until I finally gave up at El Paso, the Gator Bowl at in fear and trembling that I would Jacksonville, the Tokyo Rice have to eat my words. Bowl at Tokyo. We have the I think the Spanish celebration Sugar Bowl at New Orleans, the "Cabanuelas· or 12 grapes, is Orange Bowl at Miami, the Tan­ delightful. Twelve grapes con­ gerine Bowl at Orlando, and last stitute the twelve months of the but by no means least, the Salad year, and as the clock strikes Bowl at Phoenix. It is small midnight the grapes are held up wonder that the expression "life high and eaten for luck during the is just a bowl of cherries· came coming year. Feliz Ano Nuevo! into being. 3 To some of us the advent of a gift of a bright and shining New New Year is a time for partying Year ahead of us. I would em­ and uninhibited gayety and to brace it gladly and would thrust others it takes on a deep and behind me all memories of the spiritual meaning, a very personal disappointments and frustrations stock-taking. Some of us make of earlier years, and would hold the same resolutions, year after fast to the promise of fulfillment year, always with the hope that in the coming year. Father Time this time the resolution will stick. shows great impartiality. He gives And since the resolutions are each of us, rich and poor alike, always, I am sure, constructive the same 60 minutes to each hour, in their nature, I am for them if the same 24 hours to each day, to they last but a day. struggle toward the achievement As this is being written, 1955 of our heart's desire, whatever it has yet to be ushered into a may be. I can think of no better waiting world. We have so much ending than to quote Tiny Tim's to be thankful for -- to be living in "God bless us, every one." And this wonderful world, with the welcome, 1955. COLOMBIAN LOAN SIGNING, December 29, 1954 Seated L to R: Mr. Eduardo Zuleta-Angel, Colombian Ambassador to U.S.A., Mr. Robert Garner, Vice President of IBRD, Dr. Misael Pastrana, representative of Caja de Credito in New York. Standing second from left: Mr~ Jorge Mejia-Palacio, Executive Director from Colombia, and representatives of Bank of the Manhattan Company and of the First National Bank of Boston. 4 OUR NEW EXECUTNE DIRECTORS Viscount Harcourt, Executive Director for the United Kingdom since October 1, 1954, was educated at Oxford and saw war service from 1939 to 1945 in the Royal Artillery and on the Staff. With Morgan Grenfell & Company Ltd., since 1930, he became a Managing Director of that organization in 1938 and resigned on being appointed United Kingdom Eco­ nomic Minister in Washington and Executiv'e Director of the World Bank. Jorge Mejia-Palacio, Executive Director for Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Paraguay and the Philippines was elected as of November 1, 1954. He holds the degree of Doctor of Law and Political Science from the Universidad del Cauca, Colombia and has served the Govern­ ment of Colombia in many capacities including four years as Minister Counselor of Colombian Embassy in Washington. More recently he has been Executive Director of Banco Frances e Italiano of Latin America and of "La Nacional­ Insurance Company in Bogota. Soetikno Slamet, Executive Director for Greece, Indonesia and Italy, elected as of November 1, 1954, was educated in Djakarta in the Faculty of Laws. With wide experience in tax administration, he served, before coming to the Bank, as Treasurer General in the Ministry of Finance and as Chair­ man of the Commission on Foreign Investments. Jon Amason, Executive Director for Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, was elected as of November 1, 1954. F or many years he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Iceland and on the Boards of Directors of the Iceland Steamship Company and the Union of Iceland Fish Producers. Since 1948 he has been on the Foreign Trade Advisory Board of the Government of Iceland and Iceland's Governor in the World Bank. Otto Donner, Executive Director for Germany, elected as of August 12, 1954, was educated at the University of Berlin and received his Ph. D. degree in Political Economy. He has held appointments in the German Central Statistical Office, and the Reich Banking Supervisory Office and has taught economics at the Universities of Kiel, Hamburg and Berlin. Since 1947 he has been Professor of Economics at Georgetown University and since November 1952 Alternate Executive Director in the Fund. 5 STAMP COLLECTING IN THE BANK by Leopoldo Cancio Every day bulky and valuable mail, thickly covered with stamps of the highest denominations, reaches the World Bank from all parts of the world. For this reason, working for the Bank becomes doubly attractive to the staff member who is a philatelist. Sooner or 1ater, because he has enroll~d in the Bank Stamp Club or by other means, the staff member will lay his hands on a mail wrapper studded with twenty-baht Thai stamps or ten-peso Uruguayan airmails which will send an intense philatelic thrill up and down his spine. The World Bank is an ideal source of these colorful stickers originating in its 57 member countries ­ and in many non-member countries too - and the stickers are avidly sought out by the 80-odd stamp-minded persons in t~e Bank. The Bank generously hands over the stamps from its mail to our Bank Stamp Club, which periodically distributes them to the persons on its rolls. The Club has active members and beneficiaries, the latter interested only in the stamp distributions. The active members, in addition to participating in the distributions, are also willing to use additional efforts in other philatelic activities. The stamp dis­ tributions have been, at times, the source of headaches among the Bank philatelists. The supply of one-pound, ten-peso and thousand franc stamps would practically have to be inexhaustible to keep everybody - including the writer - happy. Anyone who has seen an airmail envelope covered with fifteen one-pound Rhodesia stamps feels frustrated and thwarted if the best stamp in his distributio'n envelope is a tom U.S. ten-center. A supreme effort is, of course, made by the Club to achieve a fair distribution of the stamps, and to see that each person gets at least a ·prize" item, but sometimes you just cannot please every member because there are not enough ·prize" stamps to go around. However, if you wait long enough, oppor tunity eventually knocks at your door and your collection benefits at last from the long-sought item. Incidentally, I wish to remind non-philatelic staff members of the Bank that the Club would welcome, with grati­ tude, stamp contributions from their private mail. Together with the colorful stickers, the Bank receives a large amount of mail franked with those philatelically-hated time-and­ money saving devices called postal meters. The Bank uses them on its outgoing mail and has at times received ·official" complaints from philatelists abroad because of its indiscriminate and un-philatelic use of these devices. At one time, the Bank's Paris Office used scamps, but now it has adopted the modern technique, thus preventing us from enjoying the sight of those miniature chefs-d'oeuvre of the engraver's art: the thousand-franc French airmail stamps. There is a growing fea~ in the philatelic world that postal meters may eventually deal a death blow to our hobby. Before that happens, however, we shall all continue to enjoy the wonderful pastime of kings and presi­ dents, the collecting of these fascinating tiny bits of paper which conjure in our imagination such wonderful pictures of historical events, romance, travel, adventure, and .•• even of currency and postal rates and economic inflation in the case of the more prosaic minded collectors. The Bank Stamp Club had a "field day" on December 22. Some of the more prized stamps received in the Bank mail were sold at auction to Club members. Proceeds of the sale amounted to $26.32 and will be used to buy books and catalogues for the Club's library. The photograph above shows the eager faces of Sam Lipkowitz, Club president; Jacky Smith, secretary; and Egbert de Vries, Ray Deely and Leo Cancio, members of the Club's Auction Committee, glowing in anticipation of the bargains offered for sale. 7 Left: Gllests _e greeted by Mr. Mrs. and his Mrs. G_r. anJ Mr. IIiJ Mrs. llil/. the grottfI that gathered around the ""I/et tahle gaily decorated with flowers and flags of_mher CCM"tries. CHRISTMAS J"" ..., Po.., Cool"" El... ..., Jobo HeJ"", ~ .d.~ Gl_~" _ _ ~ • _J / ...... COftSUIfICe Ladae and Mr. Blaclt.. Left: RfmG ZtJfiri_. Dr. V~ssos. Mrs. Gri(fiIJ. Mr. Gulhati GruJ Mr. Griffin. Right: Messrs. WGUgh. Blade GruJ Gamer were willi"g foils for _gici_. Sytbtey Ross. ~CKTAIL PARTY BeIOfll: Grethe Pedersen. Ch.les Parw GruJ Edith Kesterton. Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Dallies. NON - TECHNICAL APPRAISALS V - AUSTRIA This is the fifth of a series of impressions of countries visited by "Spottie" Spottswood. Others will follow. Austria is a country with a countryside that gives the appearance of having been mowed with a lawn mower every Thursday. Lush is the word for its meadows; breath-taking is the word for its mountains and historical is the word for everything else, inel uding some of its modern conveniences. Austria is trying to become accustomed to being ~ Re­ public, but since there happens to be no way of restoring the glitter and glory of the Empire, the Austrians seem happy to have Schlag (whipped cream) restored to their coffee and their theaters rebuilt. Ausuians like to play music and sing about the Blue Danube!./, ski, eat wiener schnitzel and build hydro-electric projects with high heads. Most Austrian men wear greyish-green coats, pants with green suipes up the sides and green hats decorated with shaving brushes except in the summertime when they wear leder hosen (knee length leather pants), which make them all look like boy scouts, except those who have long beards. The leather pants are apparently handed down from father to son and it seems to be unheard of for any man to have a pair of first-generation pants. No male adult Austrian would be caught dead in the daytime without a brief case. For the benefit of the winter tourists who might get lost in the Austrian except those who have pasuies. Austrian operas are wonderful. As far as I could make out, the opera season in Vienna extends from the first of September to the last of July. During the month of August, everybody interested in opera moves down to Saltzburg for the music festival and opera there. !/ The Danube is not blue, except possibly on Mondays. 10 WELCOME TO NEW STAFF MEMBERS J~an Marie J entgen, Department of Operations - Europe, Africa and Australasia, from Luxembourg joined the Bank staff December 1­ He was graduated from the Unive~ sity of Basle, Switzerland and before coming to the Bank worked IIr. ]ent~en IIr. Burney as an economist in the Swiss Bank Corporation in Basle. Mahmud Ahmad Burney, graduate of the University of Sind, Karachi, joined the Bank staff as Training Assistant on December 10. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship in 1952 and attended the University of Washington, Seattle from 1952 .. 1954. CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS Bank staff members this year fined 150 stockings for the Red Cross. These stockings were sent to patients at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. This Christmas gesture has become a Bank tradition, and warm thanks were expressed by the Red Cross for the generosity shown. It is very gratifying that so many staff members are willing to give of their time, money and energy to benefit those who are less fortunate. This was not only true of the Christmas-stocking gifts but of other causes that were generously supported. Non-Technical Appraisal. - Cont'd. The operas are all well done. Even the people carrying spears in the back row smile. The Viennese get very sentimental, especially with young wine drunk at "Heurigens." After about the fourth glass the whole place gets all choked up when somebody plays "Wien, nur du allein" -- and somebody generally does before the evening is over and generally on a zither. The Austrians apparently drown their sorrows in young wine and old memories, which makes them more flexible than some of their European neighbors. With some Europeans, situations become serious and then critical, but with the Austrians, the situation might become critical but never serious. I would hate to think what would happen if the Austrians did get serious because it now takes them about 5,000 words to explain what time it is! 11 FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE WITH THE BANK (L to R): Carel de Beaufort, Economic Staff; Douglas Fontein, Office of the General Counsel; George Gondicas, Department of Opera­ tions - Western Hemisphere; J. Burke Knapp, Department of Opera­ tions - Western Hemisphere; and Neil Paterson, Department of Opera­ tions - Europe, Africa and Australasia. "Good news fellows! We were lowest bidders on that World Bank dam project." 12 TELEPHONE OPERATORS' CHRISTMAS PARTY Telephone Operators Hazel Dishner, Katherine Kissner, Claire Carpenter, Thelma Lambett (unable to be present: Zina Pattison and Lillie Frick) enjoyed their own private Christmas party at which they collected gifts of food for the needy; sponsored by GSA. Instead of storing their packages in a basket, they used a chimney, atop of which sat Santa. Mrs. Georgia King of the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company was a guest at the patty. MARCH OF DIMES Plastic test tubes symbolic of the Polio Prevention Research Program have been placed in each department throughout the Bank. This year will be an outstanding one in the long fight against polio as the results of recent prevention developments should be known. If the recent vaccine tests prove effective, there is great need to increase the amount of vaccine that must be available for use during 1955. If the tests prove ineffective, there will still be great need for further research. Remember that seven cents out of every dime are used to help a polio victim. PARIS OFFICE CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON - 1954 Left to Right: Marie-Fernande Pasquier, Yves Marc, John D. Miller, Cecile Cornioley, Elie Birioukoff, Liselotte Boesch, Walter Hill, Antoinette J ousselin, Nanette Sebert, Yann LeRoux, Kirsten Mohrhagen, Madeleine Sautereau, Leslie G. Butcher. The following new books have been added to the Staff Relations Library, Room 1212. They rent for 3¢ per day and may be reserved without charge by calling Extension 2951. OLD MEN FORGET BLACK POWER by Duff Cooper by Richard Wright WILDER SHORES OF LOVE BENTON'S ROW by Leslie Blanche by Frank Yerby HEART OF THE MATTER AN INNOCENT ON EVEREST by Grahame Greene by Ralph Izzard f'TRAO'NG POST;; FOUND: At Bank Christmas Party, December 16, one silver ear ring. ,Please call Extension 2951. FOR SALE: 1947 Cadillac 62 Sedan, dark gunmetal grey, in excellent condition. For further details call Extension 2951. FOR RENT: Lovely 1 bedroom apartment, unfurnished, 3051 Idaho Avenue, 1102.50 per month plus utilities. , Available February 1. If interested call Extension 2951. Furnished home in Chevy Chase, five bedrooms. Owner is going overseas and is prepared to leave all furnishings including appliances, such as television, electric sewing machine, etc. Available Feb­ ruary 1 to December 31, 1955. 1250.00 per month - will consider lower figure if tenant is prepared to assume full responsibility for maintenance. Call Extension 2951. BLOOD DONORS During 1954 a total of forty-one Bank staff members donated blood to the Red Cross. In several cases blood was given for specific use of Bank staff and their families. Many have expressed a desire to give blood but for health reasons have been unable to do so; however, their support in promoting the project has been greatly appreciated. Christmas week donors included: Hans Bachem, Gladys Willard, Harriet Curry, Olga Dinneen, John Bolton, Eunice Deister, Dick Richards, Lise Cathala, Jose Camacho, Joan Cranshaw, Hendrik van HeIden and Alexander Stevenson. 14 .. 9j,.~ Welcome! to stop work to spend more time General Trainees for 1955: with her family, and to Marie Gonazlo de la Pezuela Cuba Higginson who has returned to Abitaw Gabreyesus Ethiopia her home in Hamilton, Canada. Pierre Sabouret France We are happy to say that four Nicolas Kyriazidis Greece of our staff · members who had Joseph Chatelain Haiti operations are recovering very Younis S. Al-Heraithy Iraq satisfactorily. They are Remedios Khalil W. Sanbar Lebanon Orlaoes, Joanna Slusarski, Lydia Federico M. Bilbrey and Ellen Miller. Mandel burger Paraguay Asta Borup, formerly of Ar­ chives, returned from California Christine and Arnold Casson recendy to become co-owner of rece ived a special gift on De­ Old Angler's Inn on MacArthur Boulevard. cember 10 at George Washington hospital. He is William David Holiday Travelers and tipped the scales at 7 .lbs. Mignon Roberts San Francisco 6 ounces. The Hauensteins P ennsy1vania Nicole Lino Caiola