THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18633, 6 March 1926, Page 13

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

ARTICLE

"•ftttctti* 1 wairrzs tor the phesb.") '- '/ftv* the B*- Hon> ' Sir Robert Stout, , ' P. 0., D.C.L., Oxon, etc., etc.) To all we H wishers of human kind *IW* 5* perhaps •no question of so '\ interest as that of the "League ' bflfations." Civilised mankind is sick *- ofiw. u * * 3 ano - niust be \ How is our civilisation to ; Can it be maintained v 't th 6 uncivilised are to dominate those «'' who* a™ thc DeSt of raceS °* mankin d? Z. t j, the problem to be solved. And •t is a problem that has often been " put *» humanity. There are in civilised > <Lto>unitiefl many grievous and serious V*ri*W.' Murders are frequent in counv tries deemed civilised. What is to be t don'ef Must not the murderer bo pun- * JIW and peace be maintained! And often m outDUr6t of murderous *' "'Mion. Perhaps what has been called '\ SiW'eakness of the League of Nations r J'that it may have to. resort to war 1& peace. There stands the that nations and peoples consider. Ought, however, the iififtfen'ce of this undoubted difficulty tSke the world abandon Leagues of I The old saying is true—"Rome llPlraiot built in a day"—and if it a hundred years before peace, is ll}Mtired by good-feeling and Leagues SVaiions, what is that period comSred with the history of mankind? |||e 'cannot expect peace nor a league Mf, 1 nations in a short space of time. |||ftat must beof interest .to us is what fiflSiie "League of Are signs of its advancement? mßhir 'is it seating about its work? I all its "Monthly Sumof work, and the last one I lifolfe received, which was published on Mwlefstand its work and its procedure. Pft/eon»isls of twenty printed pages, of about 20,000 .words. ;It is too Pk&ff for printing as a whole, and I lii Ski therefore condense its statements, p/tiye question ;dealt with is the p%Wil Question.". Ought that largo raiftdet »n Asia, ,the home of .ancient. Irillsetions, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babyildn, 'Christian, and Mahometan to left t;o Turkish rule or should it bo: wed, under a British mandate subject : tfse'League -of.Nations? J-he matter came before -the League NktionS,; arid the League asked kite from the Permanent Courts of t«rn*tionai Justice. The first qucs-. n asked was:-!' What is the characf 1 Of tlie decisiCß to ber taken. by i Tirtue. of .article 3, para»p;k2'of the.Treaty of Lausanne?" lit paragraph provided '' that in the int of no agreement being, reached British "arid Turkey Govemiteiitvl regard: to .the- determination ,ithe-frontier between Turkey and 4'.th'B dispute should be'referred to B'Council of the League of Nations 4 that: pending the decision to be the status quo,of. the territories ilriich the final; fate would depend ■ -decision was to be main-; , "-' l i','',■'■'•''■''.•;.; '•*"" ■'.".'■ ~:■.-•';•,;■' SM^.hold'that.)t was the intra-;.. i aJ)d: B »-. * -ttiifMfel^Council was to give a.deof the disthe true irorttier;£;^|||JJsv : ■-.'.' held, howeier^;|^e^ by mediae ' their dis- :. agree the the question. How to act ? Must ik 'the unaniriwus like an EngSrejrdict in a criminal case? Court that though was i yet that the led by the representatives ies were not to. affect the animity. If for example agreed; save the repre»f Turkey or Britain, then Was ;|eld to be' obtained. t; was pointed^.': out, one of could veto the Council's deCourt's conclusions were jbe decision to be; taken by of; the League of Nations ; Article 3; paragraph 2 of )f Laliaanne would be bindparties, and would coustiiite deternvihation of the reeri; Turkey and Iraq, the/decision to be taken ken by a unanimous vote, itatives of. the takthe. voting;' but their votes mlited in ascertaining wheis; unanimity, 'mains for the Council to a merits,, and to give its most interesting to watch ing in!this dispute! It is first important dispute that has had to- consider, and rill show whether a settlegreat dispute between two possible by the League of it succeeds a step forward ecn made - that cannot fail it lasting effects. , ue of Nations has already work. It is reported that usand treaties, internationsnts and conventions have isent date (November 1925) red Jjy the League Secretar-y-t.ix volumes of the Treaty been containing tional agreement!, an to this.great work of rnational agreements opennations ' there has been isation work done. There I organisations dealing with ;h, economic and financial nunication and transit, the soasts, ports,. and maritime etc.. There were also ad- < questions dealt with—inSaar governing Commission, torn duties, gendarmerie or come under this Saar Commission reported i. to settle a .strike. It diners' strike, due to the remands for increased wages, a July 2"th. The governing it, in. order to promote a fought representatives of into touch with the French 'labour and Public Woj;ks. tjbiiß, which were particuto the.great diffi--4%hieh the European coal i: «t that moment to cope, l«£ igreeriient iputting an pWke on August 3rd. ISo

c£iV* in<iiden ' ii ««w«ed»"diiring the

Settling a coal strike i n seven davs sLiJ^ 7 - a recordl Publi c £t« Fl?% ne > te ."'tories under mant£* ; A ?°> Petitions from communin • ,e i' u *?, le m. Zionistio congress, Kf? £ t Alba P' a n origin in Greece between Greece and Bulgaria trafhc m opium in India and China Ti. r' atl came unde «" review. the fact is that tha League of Rations is no longer a possible League, it is a real active League dealing with hosts of questions which hitherto have been dealt with by diplomats without considering the disputes, or wrongs, ! or duties or responsibilities of nations as a whole. A new system of government m Europe has been inaugurated and its possibilities and effects who can estimate? We are, so to speak, entering on a civilisation. It may be that it will not succeed. War •*> •? L ltS norrors mav arise, but even it it does, war must be much modified by the training - of the nations to 'try anc reach understandings and agreements, by mutual conferences and arrangements. The results so far as the efforts of the League are concerned have been wonderful, and he is no lover of human kind who will not help to stabilise s the League, and make it strong and powerful. May I also point out tnat for an annual subscription of five chilling*, a monthly, summary of the League's doings may be obtained from Constable ?nd Co., Ltd., 10 -12 Orange street. London. Even in our Dominion will there not be found many who will join the League and give it moral support? The question has been again and again raised: Can there be a real or valuable League of Nations if the great Eepublic of North America, with its 115,000,000 of citizens, does not become a member of the League? From one point of view, the United States is a League of Nations. Will it enter into any arrangement with the Nations of Europe! may become a member of the League of Nations or it may join a Conference or League for the creation of a World-wide Court that will act as an arbitrator of international disputes. The subject is even now exercising the minds and thoughts of many great Americans. On January 6th this year one motion was proposed in the Senate of the United States to discountenance the consideration of taking part in the creation of: a World-wide Court. The motion proposed by Senator Reed, of Missouri, reads as follows: — "That the. Committee on Foreign Relations, or any sub-committee thereof, is authorised and directed to investigate and ascertain whether any foreign Government or any citizens or corporations of any,foreign countries are or have been expending or furnishing any moneys or credits for the purpose of directly or indirectly influencing the action of the Government of the United States, and particularly of the Senate of the United States, in any manner affecting the foreign policies or relations of the -United States. Said committee shall further investigate and ascertain the ability of the foreign countries indebted to the United States to pay and discharge said indebtedness.'' There was a keen debate, and in the end the motion was defeated—the voting being: Ayes 16, Noes 54, and members not voting 25. The debate was most interesting, and showed,, that Senators . were well ac- . quajjuted with what' was being done by the Council of the League of Nations, The Mosul question was discussed, but ! the true question was should the States have anything to do with a World Wide Court. Senator Beed said, inter alia: "It is not my purpose at this moment to discuss'the question of the League Court. It is enough to. say that every. thinking man must know that the step ; we are asked to take is of vital import-, nace to the world. It involves a complete reversal of the ancient policies of this Government; it throws us into'intimate contact with every international ..problem,- it compels us to paricipate in the settlement of those problems, many> bi'which have arisen and will arise soleGovernments."of the Old | '■World. V; -It obligates us to some mca-. -sure of-duty with reference to each 'of '■ those problems; and,'if us are j right-in our conclusions, it will require this Government to back the decisions of that' Court and to enforce by arms, the' blood, and tlie money of the citizens of the United States." Senator R<eed had not a high opinion of-Britain's'-disinterestedness, m the Mosul controversy. This was replied to by another Senator—Senator King. He said: "The Senator made the statement that Great Britain had raped Turkey. I suppose the Senator alluded to the Mosul case. May I say to the Senator, that I made.some investigation concerning; that matter. The Kurds occuoied for .many years, for centuries before the Turks came into Asia Minor, a part of Mesopotamia and a paitof what now consti- | tute's Turkish territory, including the | Mosul district. They claimed 'it as their country, and it was known as Kurdistan. Turkey, by force of arins, asserted sovereignty over it, as she did over Svria, Palestine, and Egypt. Mr Reed, of Missouri: How many vs?,rs ago? . . • 'Mr King: A number of hundred vears ago. When -the World War was ended, Turkish sovereignty ever Palestine was extinguished, as some years before her sovereignty E»ypt had bef-n extinguished. The Kurds insisted upon having an autonomous Government and perhaps they would have had such Government hnd it not been for the warfare waged against them bv the present Turkish Government. 'l want to say that many persons think the Kurds are entitled to Mosul and n part of the territory within the Kingdom of Iraq, ln» Kurds who inhabit Mosul do not want Turkish sovereignty, and Great .mitain' is protecting their rights against the unlawful assertion of authority by Turkev, as- well as the rights of mar* Arabs' and othe,- nationalities who reside in the Mosul vilayet. Mr Reed, of Missouri: \es; Great Britain is protecting their rights and taking the oilMr King: No, I deny that. s There were other speakers who dealt with the World Wide Court: Mr Fess said: Mr President 1 shall vote for the adherence of this country to, the World Wide Cou t protocol, first, because 1 think our national interests he -in that direction Secondlv, because I believe it is an honoura'be thing, for America to do Third, I believe it is our duty. A nation might ignore its interests but no nation can ignore ite national honour or its national duties, and if we. believe that war ought, to be minimised, and it is our mission to build a public opinion that will make war im possible in time, that will outlaw «ar because the conscience of the worW will not stand for it, * ™ **«£ that, this is the only opportunity 1 see by which we can accomplish t' iat -£ as one who would not vote to take this country into the League of 'ons, I will vote without any hesitancy the World Court. ■ debßt ed The question was ™ rtne * Af in tb.e Senate on January 16th, ana again adjourned. _ wide Court • Supporting the Worm «v e f is the Awards a Leagu Nations. Even if nothing w save cr*atnig such a C OU rt n have been mode of recognise another and bette -m^ settling disputes ™ a f of to- & dawn «i th 6 centre of removed as we are ir do e S P '!«"show the world on do .»* we :. J. Ktftn d and that . we, along Witt' £*"£,? are tonging for. •February lfe*, 1926. . ; • ,