The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-24
LEAGUES TRUMP H
 IN GRECO-ITAL|AN CRISIS IS CLAIMED
Noted Editor Says France And England Can Make
 League Strong
By JOE ST. JOE STRACHEY Editor of The Spectator
(Published by Arrangement With
 The Spectator

(PuDHSneQ Dy ATTdHB eHneHL WllH
 The Spectator
 LONDON, Sept. 23.-The very prev alence of the discussion as to whether the League of Nations has been defeated or has won victory Is in itself an excellent sign, though I confess that to me the issue, as 1t is usually presented in a rigid, logi- cal form, has not very much mean ing.
 There Is no such thing as an abso- lute victory or an absolute defeat for the league, if only for the sim pie reason that the league has no power to impose a settlement in in ternational affairs. Anyone who takes the trouble to read the covenant can find this out for himself.
 I do not, of course, deny that the Janina crisis has been a very sert- ous one for the league; if the league had failed to exert considerable tnflu- ence, If 1t had been flatly repudiated, and if it had folded its hands and sat down quietly in face of that defi- ance, its authority would steadily have diminished henceforth. But. happily, that is the reverse of what has happened. The league has e&- erted influence, and the terms of set clement put forward by the ambas- sadors' conference were in substance the terms proposed by the league.
 The most important point of all Is that the league by it's intervention an intervention accomplished in per feet form, as it was a response to the appeal of Greece, a member of the league-achieved publicity. Pub liclty meant delay and delay meant the comparative moderation of sec ond thoughts on the part of Italy. It is only by such trials as this that the repute of the league can be built up and maintained.
 Give Time To Cool off
 In the ultimate analysis the de- cisions of the league are only the ex- pression of public opinion in the va- rious nations associated together in it. The fact from settling any mat ter outright when there was one dis sentient party, and we thus see that the great function of the league is | to bring together in consultation | those who are in danger of acting is a passion, the league establishes | the important principle of delay. Think what would have happened during the past fortnight if there had been no league.
 Italy would have gone full steam ahead without let or hindrance. Other nations friendly to her no doubt might have protested. But in their exhausted condition they would have done nothing very practical to re- strain her. Even if they had wished to hold her back b/ compulsion, they might well have thought to add force to- force would have been to confer no benefit upon the world, but only to plunge it into deeper anguish.
 Besides, the people not immediately touched by the dispute between Italy and Greece, greatly though they de- | sire peace, would not move just now. 1 They are not only fed up" with l fighting, but mlstrust all wars for what they regard as distant or politi- cal causes.
 In such circumstances the only l thing that can possibly help a dis tracted world is such body as the l league, which has already gathered round it moral authority. Without l it. as 1 have said, Signor Mussolini the tragic days of July 1914, might easily have been repeated. On look | ing back we see that If there had | been d League of Nations in 1914 | there would have been rallying | point for those who wanted to make and even the great war itself might have been averted.
 League Is Necessary.
 Events have proved the league to be necessary. If 1t were not there we should be in the position of having to invent it.
 Is it not plain that the league has on the whole come well out of the crisis? It seems so to me. Hotheads | who rush into action, careless of their responsibilities to others, and of their custodianship of the public law, will know in future that the league will | call them to account. They may ef- feet to dispise 1t, but they cannot safely ignore it. That Is a tre- mendous point gained.
 It has been said even by some of those who hold that the league was competent to deal with the Janina crisis that in point of fact It's man. agement of that crisis was execrable; that the council by laundering out denunciations of Italy's disloyalty to the league, blew up passion to white heat and very nearly brought about the calamity which 1t wishes to avoid. We'll, I suppose there are always a certain number of people with ex- cellent intentions who think it tact less to call spade a spade. But really quiet conversations at Rome behind shut doors would have been of no use. If that was the right course why believe in a league at alIi Would it really have been wise to speak and act as though Signor Mus solini were a child who must be warned by circumlocutions and al- legories, but never by direct and solemn statement? I do not believe it for moment. On the contrary, ex- perience has shown us that there is something in the Latin temperament that responds favorably to an un-