The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-11-05

tiOn-Question of Special Interest to
United States.
NEW YORK, Nov Some of the i'm
portant questions to be considered by the
assembly of the league of nations at its
hrst meeting, beginning Nov. Is, at Ge- |
neva, will be the preparations required
TO enable the league to use, if necessity |
arises, the weapon of international &c
onomIc and financial blockade contem- /,
plated in Article XVI of the covenant |
\ memorandum by Sir Eric Drum-I
mond, the secretary-g general, now beingl
distributed to the members of the league, |
and received here by the league to en-l
force peace shows that this question will
come before the assembly on the recom-(
mendation of the league council in thel
form OF a proposal to appoint a BODY toI
be known as the international blockadeI
commission. The secretary-generaI sug-
gests that this commission consist of rep
resentatves nominated by the countries
entitled to permanent membership in the
council, with the addition of represent
atlves OF four other members of the
league selected by the assembly, for the
purpose OF studying the problem and set
Ting the general plan of action, the or
/ ,,
chnery required and the principles on
which 1t should work.
ms question Is of peculiar interest to-
the United States, because one of the
first problems such a commission would
consider promises to be the method OF
rendering a blockade effective against
states which are not members of the
league. In a report adopted by the coln-I
cll OF the league at the San Sebastian
meeting IN August, NJ. Tittoni, the Ital-
ian representative, stated: at should be
clear that the states members of the
league of nations who declare the block
AIDE have the right to render it effective
against all states including those who aIe
not members of the league, but they
have not the right to force the states
who do not form part of the league to-
declare the blockade themselves
Article XVII provides that, should any
member of the league resort to war in
disregard OF its covenants, all the other
members shall undertake Immediately
to subject it to the severance. of all trade
or financial relations and the prevention
of all financial. commercial or personal
intercourse between the nationals of thel
communicating state and the nationals
of any other state whether member of
the league or not" and that the members
shall mutually support one another inI
the financial and economic measures
taken under this article
(, The use of this weapon, = says the. see,
Rotary is in certain cIrCIthi-
stances a specific duty imposed by Arti-I
Gle WI. This duty cannot be effectively
carried out without great loss of timel
and efficiency unless there has been conf
siderable previous preparation before thel
time at which action Is required.
Situations might well arise in which,
the knowledge that the weapon IS ready
for use would have very salutary eff
feet. Many people think that the leaguel
is founded more upon good intentions
than upon cool consideration OF the
stern realities of international trouble. |
1t is. therefore. desirable on general
grounds that while the first meetings OIL
the council and the assembly should give
the world the positive hope OF removing
misunderstanding and promoting interna-
tional cooperation. they should also show
quite clearly that the members OF the
league as a whole are determined. II nee /
essitv arises. to enforce their will by ell
fectIve action on any particular country
which in the circumstances contemplated
by the covenant detles the general Vcr-l
dict of the world
The memorandum calls attention tof
one important difference between the
two forms Of pressure economic and mIl-i
itary) which the league may use, as tol-
lows: ''Where member of the league +
resorts to war in disregard of specified /
covenants, all other members OF the
league are by the covenant itself speelh-l
caIiy obliged to apply the economic wea-l
non. They are not similarly Obliged to use
their military or naval forces. In the lat-I
ter case. the Article (XND only provides
that il shall be the duty Of the council in
such cases to recommend to the several
Governments concerned what effective
military or naval forces they shall sew
orally contribute" ....-.. = |
The secretary-general is Of the opinion
that the article clearly contemplates that
So far as possible. ''the responsibility forl
enforcing economic pressure shall be del
centralized, l. e., a primary responsibility
rests upon each government to take ac-I
ton So far as its own nationals and own
national machinery are concerned, single
international authority
At the same time, he concludes that
central coordinating authority will be rel
ouired if the weapon of economic pres