Evening star., 1923-08-31
LEAGUE ASSEMBLY
IN GENEVA MONDAY
u. S. Participation in Human
itarian Commission Topic
of Discussion.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
GENEVA, August 31.-Meetings in
preparation for the fourth general
assembly Of the league of nations,
which will be called to order Monday,
began today
The fact that the United States has
humanitarian commission and the ex-
pected presence of a number of Ameri-
can senators as observers are favorite
topics of discussion.
Foremost in all minds is the question
of what. if any. action will be taken on
the reparations question.
The French delegation, headed by
Gabriel Hanotaux. will oppose. it is said,
any move which they believe would
amount to dictation by the league of
settlement of the German reparations
issue, taking the ground that the
machinery for such settlement already
exists and that the intergovernment
negotiations are continuing.
Viscount Ishii to Preside.
The fourth assembly will be called
to order by Viscount Ishii, former
Japanese ambassador at Washington
and now amba ssador to France. The
league has passed through it's most
active year of endeavor, and numer-
GUS are the questions which will come
up for discussion by the representa-
tives of the fifty-two nations aiiliat-
ed with the Geneva organization. 1t
is regarded as certain that Ireland
will apply for membership; Turkey
and one or two other states may do
likewise.
The assembly will bring together
many Of the worlds foremost states
men. including Gen. Smuts. the cele-
rrated leader of the South African
republic; Lord Robert Cecil: Dr. F..
European relief work; former Pre-.
mier Branting of Sweden; Foreign
Minister Bones Of CzechosloVakia:
representatives of the British over
seas domfnions. and spokesmen of
some sixteen South American repub-
lies.
Geneva Expects Big Crowd.
something like 1.5o0 people. includ-
ing national delegates, experts in va
rious fields. and journalists from all
corners OF the globe are expected and
aready Geneva is making ready its
display of flags of all the world pre-
paring the great fountain which plays
IN the inner harbor. and otherwise
planning for the reception of men
from many lands. of many races and
of many languages
All the work of the assembly will
be done in public. Every session.
both plenary and committee. is open
TO the press Apparently efforts are
helng made to prevent the league
from falling into those ways of Sc
crecy which often mark the course of
diplomats in international negotia-
uons. Occasionally during the last
year some sessions of the council
were held privately. with resultant
criticism based on the allegation that
II the league as it gets stronger yields
of secrecy il is eventually doomed to
failure because the keynote of its
success must be open covenants open
~ arrived at. The assembly general
~ discusses not only what the league
has done during the past year but
also what it has not done and should
do.
Represe entatiOn of States.
Each state which is member of the
league may be represented by not
more than three delegates. who are
appointed by and responsible TO their
respective governments. AS the work
or the league covers many different
nelds OF International life, and as the
sessions are run with the greatest
possible expedition, many countries
nave supplementary delegates and ex-
pert advisers on various problems.
Each. however. has but one vote
Practically all questions of impor-
tance can be decided only by unani-
nous vote. One state could block an
agreement, If 1t wished to take the
responsibility. AS a matter of fact
such contingency has not arisen in
the history of the league. One of two
policies has been followed. Either
negotiations have been pursued until
an agreement acceptable to all has
been reached. or states which felt un-
able TO agree to definite PROPOSAL
have abstained from voting. thus al
lowing the proposal TO be adopted by
the other countries