Evening star., 1925-09-10

The sixth assembly of the League
of Nations opened last Monday in
Geneva The United States of Amer
| lea received the usual compliments
! from officials and other enthusiasts
| of the league, who have looked in vain
| for repentance of the recalcitrant ma
ton of Washington, Lincoln, Roose-
] Welt and Wilson.
There will be held in the Ca pitol of
| the United States, in this city, October
II, the twenty-third conference of the
/ InterparIiamentary Union, an organi-
zation made UP of delegates from all
| nations, mostly members of their re-
| spective parliaments. This organiZa-
| ton antedates the League of Nations
nearly four decades. Its purpose is
similar, though its methods differ rad
| ically from those of the league.
Founded by a working mana union
| list who was almost pioneer as a
Labor member of Parliament-yet its
meetings are always greeted by the
heads of government. and il is recog-
! nized as having tremendous influence
upon world politics and the peace of
ma tions.
1t was in 1885 that the Interparlia-
mentary Union was begun by Sir Will
liam Randall Cremer, who was then a
member of the English Parliament.
but lately an active member of the
bakers union. His idea of an inter
national union to prevent war was
not accepted by Premier Gladstone.
nor by the other British leaders. but
was backed by Frederic Passy of the
French Assembly. The organization
pushed ahead in both countries.
In 1888 AIR. Cremer brought to the
4 ys-l n y
members of Parliament asking that
- Urited States and Great Britain
enter into an arbitration treaty. He
| was introduced to President Cleveland
by Andrew Carnegie and Samuel
Gompers, but nothing came of. the ef-
| fort. Later Mr.. Cremer won the Nobel
peace prize for founding the union.
| The Interparliamentary Union met
| in the United States in 1904, at the
! st. Louis Worlds Exposition. After
the conference the delegates visited
Washington and were greeted by
President Roosevelt, who said to
| them: You are men skilled in the
several countries, and this fact adds
weight to your championship of inter
national Justice: @
Two years later when the confer
ence was held in the House of Parlia-
ment, London, the British prime min
| lister, Sir Henry Campbell. Bannerman.
said:
The majority of You have not
come here-and l think you will wish
| this to be understood-as the accred-
| tied delegates of your respective par
haments. This gathering is unofficial,
But you are here, If ] read the times
Alright, in the fullest sense as the an-
credited representatives of your fellow
country men and women, and in this
ca pacity you are entitled to express.
| with an authority attaching to no
other assembly in the world. the con-
science, the reasons and the senti-
mentss of large and not the least in
| fiuential portion of the human race.
IL You have done much since
| the new century began to give shape
and substance to the growing, the in,
sistent, desire that war may be ban.
ished from the earth
X r X
IL cynical doubters point to the fact
| that since the above speech the most
| terrible war in all history has been
fought, so may the critics point to
| the fact that after six years of the
League OF Nations there has been no
year without wars. Even while it is
| opening it's sixth assembly war per-
sists, involving three prominent mem.
bers of the gue-France with the
Druses in Asia Minor. France and
Spain with the savage riffs in Africa,
and Italy with the Algerians-and all
the Occidental nations. especially
I Great BfitaiH,@on- the verge sof. war
with China. - =.