New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-05

relation Of the League Of Nations !, !
the whole affair has been throuph ],
agent at Danxig, who FORBADE 5.
landing Of the munitions desperaal,
needed by the Poles to saya sh,,.
capital. because the league had ~ |
provided him with the men neeesa,
TO protect and unload the mnai,,sm
League Really Paland's Foe
Poland was not only not psaasss.s
by the league, hut at the cgisia iaA,.
life. fighting with her hack sraso,.
the wall. she found that che lesds.
as the custodian and guardian ~
nanxig, was her enemy, not tAwaps
design, but through absolute wsl.
ness. The league had taken syss /,
German city. 1t Lad undertake i.
administer it, bus it lacked the Pam,
to enforce the rules. made hr l.
self; it was unable to guaraates h
the Poles the exact benefits which
explain the creation Of the Fne
City Of Dsnsig in the first plasa
Will the Jugo-Slavs be eversasbu.
siastic for a Free City Of Fiune, t,s.
der the League Of Nations, In tAs
light Of the present crisis? 1oes
one believe that the Italians' IN
Fiume would be kinder to the Sesbs
than the Germans in Danzig ws,s
to the Poles if the Serbian vssl
were equally great?
The League of Nations was found.
ed upon the idea of mutual assoeia.
ton for protection and for the nm
vention of war. The French, sarb
in the conference, suggested that tAs
league should be provided with an
army and general staff to enfosw
it's viii, to preserve the peace Of tn
world. The Anglo-Saxon nations ID. /
dignantly rejected the Idea as d.
structive Of the spirit of the leagm
But the French continued to poin
out that without an army nothis
was possible; the league was 10
more than paper. Poland, DaHsis
the Little Entente, the Franeo,Bd.
gian pourparlers for a military d.
lance, these are all significant Oh.
cumstances revealing the ACCURACY
Of the French forecast. so
-
Idle Talk
It is idle to talk about the League
of Nations as a fact, an organiu
zion functioning usefully in Geneys
or anywhere else, when it remains
outside the discussion, at the mo
ment, Of a war involving at least oM
nation which Is a member Of The
league. 1t is idle to talk about DE
league as a fact if the action Of tie
nations within the league is to BE-
determined solely with reference 70
the domestic political situation d
each country at the moment Of
crisis.
But, by contrast, it is equally Ds
to suppose that the United Statsa
Great Britain or France will SUI.
render it's freedom of choice in th
matter of war-making. 1t is incau-
ceivable that Congress would co.,
sent to declare war, automatically
because the League Of Nations d..
cided that a Bolshevist aggresssn
upon Poland or German atta6
upon Czecho- Slovakia was, from the
point Of view of the league, casG
belli.
Mr.. Lloyd George declined to rnass
war upon Russia to save POLAND J
when the first act of war might, quite
possibly, have come within British
and in the shape of labor revolt
No statesman could do anything else
in such a crisis, and such a crisis u
patiently possible. But no Dss,aa
will refrain from attacking anothe
if all that the League of Nataas
can do about it is TO ignore the sf
tack, and certain of the nations wfa'
in the league do not conceal thsa
sympathy with the assailant.
To function in such an emergsag
the league would have to have ~
army Of its own, but it could aaN
get an army by drawing upon D
component nations. Lacking this
could do no more than issue nsssA
which obviously would not have "
smallest influence either with Russ
or with Germany. Such sitaaaS 1
would not be altered if the Uasas
States entered the league, bsess
American entrance would not