Evening star., 1927-09-04
DIPLOMATS FEAR LEAGUE
HAS LOST in PRESTIGE
Eighth Assembly This Month Faces Diff
ferent Situation From That Obtain
inc i'm Last Years Session.

as in the Corfu affair, expose its i'm
potence in the face of an aggressive
action by great power.
While the Albanian dispute gradu.
ally disappeared from the front pages
of the European press, 1t was never In
any real sense adjusted, because the
issue is not one of detail but of con.
tinuing fact. There is a collision be.
tween Italian and Serbian interests
and purpose all the way from Gorilla
to Valona; there is a rivalry and con-
f1ict Of natural and national interests,
and sooner or later this fact must
become an immediate, as it is always
a latent, threat to European peace.
Yet, although the menace endures,
the league remains as helpless to help
toward eradication as it is impotent to
contribute to the amelioration Of the
armament conditions, and in the sur
rounding countries alliances and un-
derstandings continue to create and
extend situation like that of 1914.
when all Europe was instantly in
volved because of a vulgar assassina-
ton in the obscure and remote cor
ner. 1t is doubtless true that no
Albanian affair could so generally in
Volve the contemporary Europe. Yet
there is not lacking evidence to DEM
onstrate that it might provoke con-
fiagration which would not be limited
to Adriatic states.
Anglo-Russian Clash.
But the most serious episode of the
year is confessedly the AngloRussian
clash. If there is an element of the
grotesque in the continuing Russian
assertion that Britain plans and has
even achieved an encirclement which
is to be the prelude to attack, and
that the British plan is to throw Po-
land and Rumania upon the western
frontiers of the Soviet state, it Is not
less true that the consequences of this
Russian allegation are disclosed in
uneasiness along the whole stretch Of
Soviet frontier which runs from Riga
to Akermann.
Here at last is a case Of a threat Of
war involving two great powers d.
rectly. And in this situation, since
Russia is not a member of the league,
Geneva is as helpless as Bogota. 1t
can do nothing. 1t can neither make
its influence felt at London or its
voice heard at Moscow. All these ex-
amples of impotence at Geneva have
had an inevitably cumulative effect.
They have combined to renew the old
sense of unreality with which the
league has been invested from the
outset.
Within the year the general Euro
pean situation has unmistakably be-
come more disturbing. Italo-Slav
complications, Russo-British quarrels,
the old problems of the Rhineland and
the never-ending complication Of Aus
trian union with Germany have taken
an aggravated form. And there has
been a growing sense that these prob
lens are real and enduring, and that
not merely solution but even accom-
mediation cannot be found through
the machinery of the league.
AS useful, and even invaluable,
place for meeting the league remains.
AS method for dealing with ques-
tions about which all parties are
agreed that there must be solution
1t has enduring value. But machine
for insuring peace, for abolishing
causes for future conflict while they
are still in an incipient stage, Geneva
remains at the least SO far made.
quate. 1t could register the achieve.
ments of Locarno. but it was unable
to carry these results one step farther.
1t has been unable to find any means
OF Fastening an evacuation Of occu.
pied Germany. which may, il pro-
longed indefinitely. destroy much, IL
not all, Of Locarno.
CHdueng6 10 WOriu.
Realization of all this makes the
approaching assembly very real
challenge to world attention. At the
least, Geneva is in the doldrums. 1t
has lost the impetus Of the last few
years.
This year, too. Geneva proceedings
are bound to suffer by reason of the
fact that no great issue Is to come I'D.
In 1924 Macdonald and Herriot "a ma
to the Swiss city to make the league,
hitherto ignored both in Paris and
London, the foundation of the foreign
action of their respective countries.
In 1925 the promise Of approaching
German admission and the prospec.
tive adjustment between France and
Germany which was to come at Lo.
carno shortly served to make the as.
sembly significant. Last year the ar
rival or the Germans gave it a sem.
blance of world influence and impor.
tance hitherto unequaled.
But this year there is no outstand.
ing issue to concentrate world atten.
ton and there is a general sense
everywhere of establishment, stimu.
lated by disarmament failures and &C.
centuated by recent political develop.
ments. III last year was high tide in
league fortunes. this year approxi.
mates dead-low water. Cynicism and
disillusionment are once more replac.
ing hope and optimism. The real i'm.
portance of the session must lie In
Its success or failure in dissipating
the existing sense OF disappointment
Whlch attaches to its recent history
and present prospects of usefulness.
tCopyright. 1927