The same year, 1906, saw the foundation of the Groupement des Universités et grandes Écoles de France pour les relations avec l'Amérique Latine. This academic association, though it does not ignore the business side of foreign relations, is naturally more concerned with educational and intellectual matters. Its activities appear in the visits of French professors and lecturers to Latin-American capitals, the reception of Latin-American students in France, the study of Spanish-American history, literature and archaeology in French Universities, and in one apparently trivial but very practical detail--the reduction by one half of French Steamship Companies' fares to Latin-American students visiting France. The economic side of this French movement appears in the institution of a "Latin-American week," a kind of festival for propaganda and intercourse, to be celebrated annually in some great business centre of France. The inaugural seven days' meeting was held at Lyons in December 1916. Sixty Latin-American delegates were present, and were met by 200 French delegates from Paris, among them leading men representing every side of French life. The conference discussed every aspect of the relations between France and Latin America, and the means of extending and improving those relations. The cordiality of intercourse finds its most pleasant manifestation in the frequent visits to South America of distinguished Frenchmen--among them have been Anatole France and Clemenceau--who carry messages of sympathy across the Atlantic to crowded and enthusiastic gatherings in Latin-American cities.