LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Southland Times, Issue 20886, 23 September 1929, Page 5

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

ITS AIMS AND WORK

SOUTHLAND TIMES COMPETITION

Each Monday there will appear in the Southland Times under this heading, articles and letters and other information about the League of Nations, explaining how it came to be formed, when it was established its aims and the work it is doing in the world. This weekly section of the Southland Times will serve as the basis of the competition initiated by the Southland Times, with the endorsement of the League of Nations Union, and the approval of the education authorities. It will appear until Monday, December 9, and in the week ending December 13, an examination will be held synchronously in the schools in the Southland Education District. The competition is open to pupils in Standards V and VI of all primary schools, and to all pupils of secondary schools, whether public or private in this district.

THE COVENANT.

How it was Drafted.

(Continued from last week).

Out of the discussions the Covenant as we know it came. It is a short document, but one of the most important in the world. Though it happens to be called by the special name of Covenant, because President fCilsons Scottish ancestry led him to press for that, it is simply an ordinary, straightforward international treaty, which twenty-eight countries signed in the first instance, and as many more have adhered to since. Instead of being signed separately it was put as the first chapter of the Treaty of Versailles between the Allies and Germany, so that no State could accept the agreement that ended the war without accepting at the same time the document that was to safeguard and establish peace. The Covenant shows what the League of Nations is. As its name indicates, it is a league, a society or union of States. But a society does not exist simply to be a society; it exists to do something, and the Covenant shows what the League exists to do. It was formed to carry out certain definite tasks, and though its members can, if they choose, agree together to carry out other new tasks that is no part of the original arrangement. IP hen States consent to join the League that means that they agree to work together with other States in the League for the purposes laid down in the Covenant and not necessarily for any others. JI 7 hat They Promised. That is why the Covenant is so important. It has, in fact, been called the most important treaty ever signed, and there is not very much reason to quarrel with that definition. It binds the States that sign it to unite in refraining from going to war themselves, and in dissuading or even preventing other States from going to war either, unless in certain exceptional circumstances; in getting the armaments of the world reduced by general agreement without unfairness to anyone; in providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States on a basis of justice and equity; in fighting such common scourges as the traffic in drugs or in women and children, and in promoting the physical and social welfare of mankind by continuous and organized co-opera-tion in the matter of health, of labour conditions, of the financial and economic relations between States. Britain’s Pledges. That is the Covenant. To put the same thing in another way, when a State —Great Britain for example—joins the League of Nations, it says to the world something like this “I intend to live at peace and try and persuade the rest of the world to live at peace. I will not have other States interfering with my internal affairs, and I do not mean the League to interfere with any other State s internal affairs; but I agree that in my dealings with other States I will act according to the principles of the League. In particular, I will never make a sudden attack on anyone, but if there is anything to fight about, I will always lay it first before the Court of International Justice, or some special arbitrators, or the League of Nations Council. And I shall always be ready to join with other States in working out plans for common action in fighting disease or in breaking down obstacles to trade, and free intercourse between peoples, or in levelling up unequal labour conditions in different countries, or in doing anything that States can do better together than separately.” Twenty-eight Allied States said that when they signed the Covenant in 1919; thirteen neutrals said it when they accepted the Covenant in the same year; fifteen more States have said it since, though one of them—Brazil—partially unsaid it when she decided to leave the League in 1926 (though Brazil is still cooperating with the League in a great many of its special activities.) Consequently the League of Nations to-day consists of 55 States, bound together by the pledges already described. Two of the largest, however, the United States and Soviet Russia, are still outside. So are Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Irak, Nejd. The rest of the world is in. (A further article in this series describing a meeting of the League ■will appear a fortnight hence).

THE FAMILY OF NATIONS

HOW IT IS CONSTITUTED. Have you ever paused to consider how New Zealand is divided? It is made up of parts just as the human body is and these parts are combined to make a country. You know that there are two main islands and that these islands are divided into provinces. Well, in these provinces there are boroughs and counties, and these boroughs and towns consist of a collection of families, which in turn are made up of men, women and children. And so we see that a nation consists of individual people collected in groups. Now just as a nation consists of groups of people, so the world is made of nations.

Just imagine for a moment what unhappiness there would be in this New Zealand of ours if the individual men, women and children were continually fighting .with each other, if they were always suspicious of each other. It is said that a house divided against itself will not stand, And that is another way of saying that a family cannot remain a family if there is warfare within itself. This truth can be applied with equal force to the larger group, the borough or the county. At. times, of course, there are differences of’ opinion, and the people in the borough or country are ranged on two sides, but they do not fight. In the olden days they used to settle all their differences by fighting, but somebody discovered how much better it was to count heads instead of breaking them, and in this way voting and the rule of the majority was introduced. And that is what we do to-day in the towns and counties when any public question is to be settled one way or the other—we vote, or count heads, instead of fighting. It is the same when national questions are involved. This method of allowing the majority to rule is not perfect, but it is used because it is the best method man has yet devised for settling arguments among groups of people peaceably.

In different countries there are different methods of government; but in these days

practically all of them arrive at the same point, the settling of arguments on public questions by means of the vote, or the rule of the majority. There are also what are called private disputes. By private disputes we mean the arguments between individuals, each of whom considers he is right. Tor settling these we have the law courts, but it will be advisable to talk of them in a later article.

Now we have seen how by discussion and voting the groups of people in a nation manage to dissolve their differences by discussion and voting, but if we take a step further we can see how this operates among a group of nations like the British Empire. There are sometimes disputes betw-een different parts of the British Empire, but they do not think of settling these differences by fighting, because they know that after a war is over the dispute which caused the war is still unsettled, and because they have confidence in each other. Therefore they meet and discuss the questions which cause them concern, and attempt to arrive at some solution that will suit all parties. Those gatherings we call the Imperial Conference.

Now, we come to the great question of the world of nations, and naturally we ask why the method which works so admirably in the family, in the borough, in the province, in the nation, in the Empire, can be used internationally. For centuries men asked that question in vain, but none of the nations had enough confidence in each other to adopt it. Then came understandings between pairs of nations, like the British Empire and the United States, to arbitrate or discuss matters whenever they could not agree on a point of interest to both. This agreement declared that they would not go to war with each other, and it showed that the countries realized how much better it was to settle differences by peaceful methods. Out of agreements of that kind came the idea of a general application of the idea and the League of Nations was instituted to supply the need. There the representatives of the nations meet and talk things over, just as the' representatives of the dominions of the

British Empire talk things over at the Imperial Conference, just as the representatives of the people meet and talk things over in Parliament.

And what is it that in each case induces them to adopt this method? The belief that the peaceful way is the best way, and the recognition that a world divided against itself cannot stand. You will recognize that sentence. It was first written about the “house” or family, and now we have used it about the world. Can you not see then how the recognition of the fact that we all belong to the human family will lead to the adoption of the methods that keep the family at peace with itself, strong and healthy? Simple Lessons on the League.

We are not able to understand our world to-day unless we know something of its history. It will be necessary then to peep here and there into the past before we see the real need for a League of Nations.

Co-operation. Every boj' and girl knows that thousands of years ago, men and women lived in a very different manner from our way of living to-day. They ate coarse food, dressed crudely, and had very rough tools to work with. Great mammoths lived in the world then, but by digging great pits as traps, and working together, our forefathers even with their poor weapons, could slay these dangerous beasts. The early tribes of Britain, knew little about machinery,' but by combining their strength they managed to erect that wonderful circle of enormous stones at Stonehenge. The early Egyptians show us the results of combined effort in the great pyramids that are still the wonder of the world. Since those days men have worked together to find out a great deal more about this earth, and they can now do things that would amaze the early inhabitants. What would the people of a thousand years ago think of motor cars, aeroplanes, railways and steamships? If men can co-operate to do such wonderful things, surely the nations working in co-operation can do great deeds also. Since 1920 the first serious attempt has been made to get the nations to work together in a League. Has anything been achieved? The nations combined to rescue Austria from starvation; the medical men of the world co-operate now to fight disease in Greece; the nations worked together to keep Italy and Greece at peace. These things and many others have been done by co-operation amongst the nations. Laws and Rules. We must next understand the importance of laws and rules in our daily work and play. Every child is a member of a family and he knows that he must obey the rules of the household, otherwise there would be no peace in the home. When he goes to school he becomes a member of a much bigger family and there he must obey rules, too. He must not cheat from his neighbour’s work, or destroy his neighbour’s books, All the people of Invercargill are members of a big town family, and everyone has more freedom and happiness because there are laws and rules of behaviour for everyone to follow. We may further look upon al! the people of New Zealand and Australia as members of big families, who must obey the family laws, that is, the laws of the country they live in. People who steal goods, or destroy property, or harm other folk, are breaking the laws and bringing unhappiness to many others. The Family of Nations. In the same way we may think of the nations of the world as the greatest of all families. But up till 1920 there were no definite family laws amongst the nations and no certain means of getting even fair play for the weaker members. Consequently many wicked deeds were done by strong nations against the weak. "Might is right” was the chief family law, and the peace of the world was very much disturbed. In 1740 Frederick the Great of Prussia stole from Austria the fertile country of Silesia. Between 1772 and 1800, the powerful countries of Russia, Austria and Prussia agreed to carve up the defenceless country of Poland and divide it out amongst them-

selves. In 1864, Prussia, under Bismarck’s direction, forced Denmark to surrender the rich plains of Schleswig-Holstein, and later, France, to surrender the beautiful provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. In no case can the act of the aggressor be justified. The people who lived in the countries that were handed over were most unhappy under their new rulers and yearned for the day when they might be restored to their old flag. The League of Nations hopes to prevent in the future such acts of robbery, and such acts of violence as Germany’s devastation of Belgium in 1914. Enforcement of Laws. Children who break the rules of the home are checked by their parents. Boys and girls who offend against school laws are checked or punished by their teachers or prefects. People who break the laws of their country are brought to book bypolicemen and punished by magistrates or judges. Now the laws of the country are made by Parliament, and as all adults have a vote in choosing the members of Parliament, the laws are really made by the people themselves. That will be the case too, with the League of Nations. All countries who are members of the League will have a say in framing the laws, and all will be responsible for seeing they are pbeyed. The League in future will be the “police force” of the world, and at this stage we must recall Sir Robert Peel’s instructions in 1829 to his new policemen: “It should be understood at the outset that the principal object to be attained is the prevention of crime.” Next week we shall mention early attempts to ensure world peace, and try to find out why they failed. NOTES 1. “League,” of course, means “society.” It is from a Latin'word meaning “to bind.” The League of Nations is a society of nations (each nation being a member) bound or banded together to maintain the peace of the world. What the League is and how it is trying to realize its aims is the purpose of this column. In some European countries the name is “Society of the Nations,” “the” being used to indicate that all the nations of the world are included. That is not the case yet, but the inclusion of all is the permanent aim of the League. It is said that the English title “League of Nations” was adopted for phonetic reasons, but that it really means “League of the Nations.”

2. "The League of Nations Union” is a voluntary- society- of men and women of all classes who are in favour of the League of Nations, and desire to make its aims and achievements more widely known. There are branches of the union in all parts of the Empire. There is a branch „in Invercargill. There are kindred organizations, too, in over thirty other countries. It is believed that the more people learn about the League and its work, the more they will be in favour of it and the more they will do to help it. The success of the League in bringing about world peace depends on the number of people in the world who understand it, who really wish it to succeed, and who warmly supported it by word and deed. The British Union has a large membership of all classes and all shades of politics. It spends every year on educational effort something like £50,000. This money is derived from our membership subscriptions and annual donations from people who see how important is the diffusion of information about the League. Apart from the subscriptions of the few who have become members, the local branch of the Union has so far received no financial assistance.