Evening star., 1927-10-25
GENEVA. Switzerland

How impressive is a session OF the
League of Nations Assembly? 1t
meets in what appears like a second.
rate markethouse. There Is no more
grandeur to it than there is to city
council. There is formality-deadly
formality-for at the ground floor en-
trance two policemen stand guard. II
is necessary to present a card Of ad.
mission, which is easily obtained at
the club.
Then the visitor climbs stairs to
what Americans would call third
story or an Italian would speak of as
fronted by locked doors, though with
entrances not guarded outside by live
sentinels, as is the case at entrances
to either house of the United States
Congress. The would-be visitor waits
in the deserted landing at the head of
the stairs until an inside guard deigns
to open the door, which he does when
ever a speaker within ends his ora
ton and descends from the raised
platform for debaters. There is no
such thing as entering or leaving in
the midst of speech.
The Assembly meets in a large rec
tangular room, around three sides of
which run two galleries. Only impor-
tant personages may be admitted to
the lower gallery. The upper is for
the hoi-polloi-"even as you and l."
Looking down from the gallery, one
sees the usual organiZatiOn-the presi-
dent, the secretaries, the platform for
speakers. No orator may address the
solemn members by rising at his seat.
All speakers must secure recognition
k1F y
may ascend the forum and address
uncomfortable appear the chairs that
it must be relief to ascend the forum
and expand ones lungs and stretch
the arms.
The oratory Is deadly dull, for it is
nearly always in a foreign tongue of
the polyglot membership, and so lis
teners do not even have the advan-
tage pointed out to the present writer
in London by canny Scot. When
some one bewailed the difficulty of an
Americans understanding much of
the street English of the cockney, the
Scotchman soothed his worry by ex-
planning, "Ah. weel. there are always
plenty of Scotch around, and, of
course, you don't have any trouble
understanding the Scotch" At the
lack of even Scotch, just as there
was at Babel, which, indeed, causes
too much babbling of tongues and too
little work. However, all reports of
the Assembly are read from manu-
script, and, as all such speakers have
leave to print" listeners who fail to
understand Japanese or German, Ital-
ian, or even French, may wait until
their interpreters read the printed
reports.
What would happen to the Assem-.
bly, of the League if 1t were suddenly
transmigrated into the American
House of Representatives with it's
clamor, or into our Senate with it's
f1libustering orations. days in length?
The session was nearing it's close.
The agenda was loaded with rs tiers
less dramatic than usual. TIL > was
the question of what to do with
Armenian and Russian refugees.
There was little Of international politi-
cal interest in a few hundreds of
thousands Of outcasts, SO they were
it was decided "again ana yet" to
abolish wars, so another resolution
was adopted.
The resolution had been introduced
by Poland. 1t read:
"The Council, considering the reso-
luton adopted by the Assembly on
September 4, forbidding all wars of
aggression, and declaring that all
pacific means must be employed to
settle differences of whatever nature
which may arise between states, begs
the secretary general to bring the
said resolution to the attention of all
states members of the League"
OF course, in view of that resolu.
tion, the next step should be to dis
band armies, abolish navies and In.
definitely adjou1r the Permanent Tri.