A.—s

8

This is the resolution which was proposed by the French Delegation in the Assembly on the 15th September and referred to the Second Committee. For an account of the reasons underlying its introduction, which I gather was unexpected, I would refer you to the Journal of the Assembly for the 20th, 23rd, and 24th September, and particularly to the speech delivered by M. Loucheur at the last sitting of the committee. Perhaps, however, it would be as well to summarize the position here. Although the resolution speaks of the constitution of a Preparatory Committee, there is no question of a preliminary inquiry ; the material, or most of it, is available, and the work of the committee would be that of preparation for a general conference. It is claimed that economic conflicts are one of the principal causes of war ; and that the present suffering .is due not only to the war, but to economic disorganization prevalent before the war. From this it is argued —and I call particular attention to this—" that absence of any control of general methods of production may plunge us into further conflict." The French proposal aims not at State control, for enterprise is still to be left to an extent to individual effort, but at the application by the State of a check on excessive individual enterprise—that is, State regulation of production considered from an international point of view. A statement to this effect, made by M. Loucheur, sounded strange, coming as it did from a noted French industrialist. . He proceeded to quote instances of the effect of the unfettered working of economic laws —that a surplus production of 15,000,000 tons of coal in Europe was the cause of the crisis in the coal trade ; that the quantity of wheat imported into France (one-ninth of the total supply) fixed the price of the home product. He then drew attention to the paradox that stabilization of the currency was followed by an economic crisis. At this stage I cannot help comparing the great unemployment in England, which has returned to the gold standard, with the. prosperity of France, which, since the war, has been able to absorb thousands of foreigners, and where there is no unemployment, although externally the franc is about one-fourth of its pre-war value. Although M. Loucheur ventured into the regions of high finance he did not feel that a conference, if called, should consider matters of doctrine, such as the gold standard ; but he claimed that it ought to be able to find a means of stabilizing the currency without creating an economic crisis. Finally, he compared the competition in Customs tariffs with the competition in armaments before the war. In short, the aim of,the eminent French speaker is individual effort tempered by State control in the interests of internationalism. I ought to add that it was made clear by M. Loucheur in the debate that Allied debts and migration should be excluded from the terms of reference of the conference. I fail to see how an International Economic Conference could do effective work without taking into consideration " Allied debts." The Second Committee's report is Document A. 112, and the following resolution was passed by the Assembly on the 24th September " The Assembly—firmly resolved to seek all possible means of establishing peace throughout the world ; convinced that economic peace will largely contribute to security among the nations ; persuaded of the necessity of investigating the economic difficulties which stand in the way of the revival of general prosperity and of ascertaining the best means of overcoming these difficulties and of preventing disputes —invites the Council to consider at the earliest possible moment the expediency of constituting on a wide basis a Preparatory Committee which, with the assistance of the technical organizations of the League and the International Labour Office, will prepare the work for an International Economic Conference. The convening of this conference under the auspices of the League of Nations shall be a matter for subsequent decision by the Council." COMMITTEE No. 3. Asms, Munitions, and Implements op Was. Two aspects of this subject, which is complementary and also closely related to the vital problem of disarmament, received the attention of the Third Committee and the Sixth Assembly— namely, international traffic in arms, munitions, and implements of war, and their manufacture. The resolutions submitted by the delegate of Salvador were adopted without discussion, and do not call for special comment. The relative documents are A. 13, A. 16, A. 38, A. 57 and 57 (1), A. 62, A. 82, and A. 109. A report and resolution with respect to the Military Year-book, submitted by the same Delegation, was also accepted by the Assembly (see Document A. 108). Arbitration, Security, and Disarmament. We are all aware that the high hopes which were raised in so many quarters last year by what was regarded as the crowning achievement of the League —I refer, of course, to the Protocol for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes (A. 25) —were not realized. It was only natural that the profound disappointment which was occasioned by the failure of the labours of the preceding Assembly to solve the most pressing problem confronting mankind should have found almost universal expression during the debate on the report of the Council. These regrets were, in most instances, accompanied by a sincere and fervent desire that the goal of universal peace, based on arbitration, security, and disarmament, might be reached by some other means, and that every path leading to this end might be explored. It was evident from the speeches that many of the delegates