Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-01-07

ject in 1920 was blocked only by
small group of weak States like Per-
STA and Panama, which evidently at
tributed to Article Y protective
power that 1t possesses only on
paper.
Such States, in possible fear of I'M
friendly neighbors, must decide
whether the preservation Of form
of words In the Covenant is more
vital to their peace and security. and
to the peace and security of the
world. than the presence of the
United States at the council table of
the family of nations.
AS to Article XVI, the Council
of the League created a Blockade
Commission which worked for two
years to determine how the economic
weapon" of the League could be eff
ficiently used and uniformly applied.
The Commission failed to discover
any obligatory procedure that weaker
Powers would dare to accept. 1t was
finally agreed that each State must
decide for itself whether a breach of
the Covenant has been committed.
The Second Assembly adopted a
radically amended form OF Article
XVI from which was removed all
reference to the possibility of EN-
ploying military force. and in which
the abandonment of uniform obliga-
ton was directly provided for. The
British Government has since pro-
posed to weaken the form of require
ment still further.
Articles X and XVI, in their origi-
nal forms, have therefore been prac-
tically condemned by the principal
organs of the League and are today
RI
desuetude. The only kind of COM
pulsion which nations can freely en-
gage to apply to each other in the
name of Peace is that which arises
from conference, from moral judg-
ment, from full publicity. and from
the power of public opinion.
The Leadership of the United States
in the New World Is Obviously
Recognized by the League
Another significant DEVELOPMENT
in the constitutional practice of tie
League is the unwillingness of the
League Council to intervene in any
American controversy, even though
all states in the New World except
three are members OF the League.
This refusal became evident in the
Panama Costa Rica dispute in 1921
and in the quarrel between Chile,
Peru and Bolivia, a quarrel which i'm
PEELED the last two States to absent
themselves from the Third Assembly,
wherein u Chilean was chosen to pre-
side.
Obviously the League intends to
recognize the leadership of the Unit
ed States in the New World precisely
as the United States claims 1t. This
is nothing less than the observance
of an unwritten law limiting the pow
ers and duties of the League Council,
defined in Article XL of the Covenant,
to questions that seem to threaten
the peace of the Old World. When
the United States is willing to bring
the two halves of the world together
for friendly consideration of common
dangers, duties and needs, it will be
possible to secure, If it is desired,
closer cooperation between the
League organizations and the Pan
American Union, already a potential
regional league. 1t is conceivable
that the family of nations may even
! tually clearly define certain powers
and duties of relatively local signifi-
canoe which may be developed upon
local associations or unions. But the
world of business and finance is al
| ready unified. The worlds of scien-
tific knowledge and humane effort
are nearly so. Isolation of any kind
Is increasingly impossible, and world
| organization, already centralized, is
! no more likely to return to discon-
nected effort than the United States
is likely to revert to the Calhoun
theory of States Rights and Seces-
sion.
In Actual Operation, If Not in
Original Conception the League
Realizes the Principle and the
Hopes Of The Hague Conferences
The operation of the League has
therefore evolved Council widely
different from the body imagined by
the makers Of the Covenant. 1t can
employ no force but that of persua-
sion and moral influence. Its only
actual powers are to confer and ad-
wise, to create commissions, to exer-
else inquisitive, consultative and arbi-
trail functions. and to help elect
judges of the Permanent Court
In other words, the force OF circum-
stances is gradually moving the
League into position upon the
foundations so well laid by the
worlds leaders between 1899 and 1907
in the great international councils
of that period. The Assemblies of
the League and the Congresses of
the international Labor Organizations
are successors to the Hague Confer
enCes.
The Permanent Court has at least
begun to realize the highest hope
and purpose of the Second League
Conference.
The Secretariat and the Labor
once have become Continuation
Committees for tho administrative
work of the organized world. such as
the Hague Conference lacked re-
sources to create but would have re-
joiced to see.
The Council, resolving loose and
large theories into cleancut and mod
est practise, has been gradually rec
onciling the League, as an organized
world. with the ideals of internation-
al interdependence, temporarily oh
scured since 1914 by the shadows of
the Great War.
NO one can deny that the organs of
tne League have brought to the SER
vice OF the forces behind those ideals
an eIiclency, scope and variety of ap-
peal that In 1914 would have seemed
incredible.
IT Is common knowledge that public
opinion and official policy in tho
united States have for n long time.
without distinction OF party. been
favorable TO international conferences
Tor the common welfare. and to the
establishment Of consultative. arbitraI
ana judicial means for settling inter
national disputes.
There Is no reason to believe that
me Judgment and policy have been
changed. Along these same lines the
League is now plainly crystallizine
as mas been showm and at the touch
vi the United States the process can
be expedited AA
In no othor roe No.. A.,