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America and passed by the full Commission, instructing SubCommissions t'o apply five criteria to all suggested projects put before them. It was agreed that proposals approved should — (1) Serve to advance the purpose of the Organization "to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science, and culture"; (2) Constitute a coherent whole; (3) Be practically feasible in terms of staff and finance; (4) Be few in number; and (5) Relate to matters of self-evident importance and usefulness. It must be admitted that the sub-commissions did not always pay full regard to these criteria in their deliberations. The programme as finally decided upon by the Programme Commission and passed by the General Conferencei is still, in our opinion, too wide for the Organization in its formative years. In so far as this is a measure of the faith and enthusiasm of thq member States it is, perhaps, an encouraging sign, but an undisciplined and all-embracing enthusiasm at the administrative level might prove ruinous in the next few years. It is, admittedly, not easy to draw the line between those projects that will directly " contribute to peace and security " and those that will not. There is a sense in which any group activity involving men and women of different nations assists the cause of peace by developing mutual respect and understanding. In the long run, UNESCO's most valuable contribution to the cause of peace may consist in bringing together people of all nations in all walks of life to work on common tasks that have in themselves little or no direct relationship to the maintenance of peace or the increasing of mutual understanding between nations. International understanding, that is to say, may, like salvation, come to those who do not directly seek it, but who settle down with co-workers from other countries to do an honest job in fields that are internationally inert. Scientific research on a specific technical problem unrelated directly to world peace would typify the kind of activity of which we are thinking. We cannot but feel, however, that to accept such a broad interpretation of UNESCO's function at this juncture would be dangerous. If the Organization is not to break down under the weight of its own good intentions, it must make a rigid selection from a host of competing goods, and we are so impressed with the rapid degeneration of international understanding at the high political level that we believe no other activity should be allowed to interfere with UNESCO's prime task of directly improving mutual understanding amongst the common peoples of the world. When the most urgent needs in this field have been met, the Secretariat may have time and energy to devote to stimulating and encouraging closer co-operation of groups whose immediate purpose is something other than international understanding. We believe that the most obvious and