The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1926. A DANGER TO THE LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 118, 12 February 1926, Page 8

The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1926. A DANGER TO THE LEAGUE

It must be regretted that the prospective entry of Germany into the League of Nations has prompted an agitation in favour of giving additional secondary Powers permanent seats on the League Council. Germany’s admission has been a foregone conclusion ever since she became a party to the Locarno Pact. Her voluntary acceptance of the responsibilities of League membership evidently will tend to make the peace of the world more secure. . . At the same time, her national standing is such that if admitted at all she can hardly be admitted on any other footing than that of the leading Powers that are already members of the League. She would undoubtedly refuse to join if she were not given a permanent seat on the Council. . . . In Germany’s case there are weighty reasons for making this concession. Indeed, if her assurances of good faith are accepted at their face value, she is plainly entitled to a seat on the Council. No such claim can reasonably be made on behalf of the smaller nations whose applications for permanent seats, on the Council, it is now reported, will be pressed simultaneously, with that of Germany. Attempts to secure permanent representation on the Council for Poland and Spain are open to objection on a number of grounds. There is no doubt that an unreasonable expansion of the Council would prejudice the League and weaken its influence for good in world affairs. . The claim made on behalf of Poland will be regarded generally as a counter-move by France intended to minimise from her standpoint the effect of Germany’s admission to the League. Some of the comments of French newspapers on the existing situation point definitely to a desire to build up within the League a party or group which could be relied upon to oppose Germany. Founded though they may be on natural fears and suspicions, desires of this kind evidently cannot be satisfied without endangering the continued usefulness, if not the continued existence, of the League. A League of Nations formed of warring cliques would be an anachronism doomed in no long time to fall to pieces. Apart from these immediate considerations, the idea of increasing the number of permanent seats on the Council occupied by secondary Powers is at the broadest view unsound.. At present four nations—Britain, France, Italy, and Japan—are permanent members of the Council, and there are six non-permanent members. These non-permanent members, at present Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay, are elected by the smaller nations at each annual Assembly of the League. Even with Germany admitted to the League and the Council, it will be possible to claim that the representation of great and small Powers on the latter body is fairly balanced. In the brief history of the League it has been made manifest that the Great Powers must exercise a definite leadership in its affairs if it is to play any really helpful and effective part. The Great Powers are able to accept responsibilities that smaller States would not care to face. The existence of the League depends on the willingness of great and small nations to co-operate in maintaining peace, but a definite lead by the bigger and more powerful nations is often necessary to make co-operation on these lines effective. It is fairly obvious that the swamping of the Council with the representatives of small nations,would upset these conditions of leadership and co-operation. Probably it would go far, if it had no worse effect, to convert the Council into a well-meaning but ineffective debating society. These developments obviously would be invited if Poland and Spain were given permanent seats on the Council. The concession undoubtedly would be regarded and cited as a precedent by many of the small nations, nearly fifty in all, that are members of the League.It seems on all grounds desirable that the representation of small nations on the Council should stand as at present. At the last Assembly of the League, there was such an absence of contention or rivalry on this point that the six non-permanent members who represented the small nations on the Council in 1924-25 were all re-elected.