The New York herald., 1921-04-03
Reviewed by
STANTON A. COBLENTZ.

tn ECAUSE America Is not a participant
* in the league, 1t is hard for this pub
- lie to believe in it's reality. But as a
reality Professor Wilson has treated it. And
his presentation is an evident effort to en-
tighten the reader rather than to argue
thesis Enough has been said of the
leagues limitations. There was need for a
scholarly statement of what 1t Is beginning
to do This book describes a living organism
with signs of the ability to endure. For a
year already it has been exerting an in
fuence in international affairs.
These facts are clearly and succincty
brought forth in the book by Professor Will
son of Harvard on THE First Year of the
League of Nations" In his brief but COM
pact volume, the league reports are sum-
married. and their essence given simply and
intelligibly.
The League of Nations, 1t is true is not
vet "A league of all the nations. But con-
slider this: Estimated in round numbers
the States Members of the League of Ma
ticns have jurisdiction over about thirty
five million square miles. or about sixty-fve
per cent of the earth's surface, and juris-
diction over about one and a quarter billion
of the worlds population" In other words,
only about third of the worlds area and a
quarter of it's population not yet subject
to the leagues jurisdiction. Forty EIGHT
states were members of the league at the
close of the first mv.ting of the Assembly;
the number unrepresented was seventeen
Among the seventeen, the United States
finds itself in company with countries such
as Azerbaidjan Herjaz, Lichensten and
Monaco.
But one may object that while the author
ity of the league is at least nominally ex-
tensive. yet as a matter of fact the scope of
its effective jurisdiction is very limited 1t
Al
limits are. Some large matters have been
taken up. At the tenth meeting of the coun-
Gil, for example, the questions dealt with in
cluded the protection of Armenia, the ap-
pointment of commission on the matter of
the Aaland Islands, the settlement of the
dispute between Lithuania and Poland the
campaign against typhus in Poland, the
repatriation of war prisoners. the consti
tuition of the Free City of Danzig, the estab-
lishment of a permanent health organization
and the report of committees on international
statistics on international finance. and on
permanent ornaments.
But perhaps the most important question
considered at the tenth meeting Of the
council was the establishment of a Per-
manent Court of International Justice. For
many years such a court has been the dream
and the hope of idealists. THE existence of
an International Court of Justice" Professor
Wilson declares. "is the secure foundation
upon which the League of Nations may most
safely rest" AS its purpose is to foster in
ternatonal justice. the court will be open
to members as well as to members of
the league; and the plan for its creation may
well be considered the most solid accom-
plishment of the league to date.
The matters treated at the first session of
the league assembly scarcely less wide
i'm range than those considered by the coun-
ell They include technical organizations to
aid in the care of world health, finances and