Evening star., 1932-01-31

ripped to pieces and patched together
again, and the time had come to name
some one for the Job of actually run
ming the new machine from day to day
it was Sir Eric whom Wilson proposed
for the job.
Uses Own Funds to Pay Salaries.
Immediately the covenant was
adopted the quiet, industrious Scotsman
buckled down to work. Waiting for the
little matter of dues to be fixed and
then collected from the various mem
Der nations would have meant a delay
of months Sir Eric went ahead and
rounded up the nucleus Of Secretariat
and then fiShed into his own private
funds to advance them their first salary
checks and to pay for needed office
space
On the back of an envelope at Ver-
SailleS he had sketched plan of pre-
liminary organization. 1t was the foun-
dation on which was built, very largely
out of his own ideas, suggestions and
recommendations. the structure which
| Geneva knows today as the secretariat.
A week after the covenant was adopted
the first meeting was held in Paris. A
! few months later the League was eStab-
| liShed on the shore of Lake GerpVa in
a hotel which had been purchased to
house the growing battalion of SeCreta-
res, translators, investigators, f1edgling
diplomats and stenographers, all dedi-
Gated to the task of trying to persuade
nations to keep their noses out of their
neighborS' troughS and Of carrying on
propaganda to induce alienated peo-
pies to love their neighbors as them
selves The League, as Sir Eric con-
ceived its duty, would seek to "enlighten,
conciliate and harmonize" the compo-
nent parts of a world given to occa-
sional warning and incessant Wrangling.
First Dispute Brought to League.
| He has had plenty of obstacles, scores
| Of opportunities to try to bring sweet
| contentment peacefully out Of SquabbleS
| across frontiers. The League had hard
! ly got down to business when Lithuania
complained that Poland had walked in
and stolen her capital, Wilma. The big
wigs of the League got together and
| instructed Sir Eric to speak to the Poles
| about it. He did. That was one dis
| pute that has not yet ended Poland
still has Wilma and the LithuanianPol
ish frontier is closed as tight as Pull
man window.
Sir Eric has seen many other League
! failures in the peacemaking art and
also number of SucceSSe\ In the eco
nomic field it helped to bring about the
financial restoration Of Austria and
Hungary 1t helped smooth out a dis
pute between Bolivia and Paraguay
three years ago, and several years be-
/ fore that when a couple of Balkan Coun-
tries were bandying threats about Sir
Eric got up in the middle Of the night,
| called London and Paris and other cities
where the members of the Leagues
Council lived and within few hours
they had the situation calmed down.
On the other side of the medal was
their inability to persuade Italy that
/; had no business lambaSting Corfu and
Hungarys defiance when they warned
her that she was not supposed to SNUG
gle arms into her contracted boundaries.
More recently Sir Eric has not succeed
ed in making Japan come around to the
Leagues point Of view of the Manchu-
rian situation.
But that probably has not cost Sir
Eric his sleep He is philoSophic man
and he has never prcphesied, as many
have done, that the League would soon
be able to put an end to all fighting be-
tween peoples. No, he said the purpose
of the League was to stop fighting be-
tween peoples, "aS much as possible"
and to bring belligerent parties together
to talk over the issues in dispute.
Among other annoying aspects Of his
job no doubt, have been the occasional
poutingS of the League members over
their positions at the Geneva table.
Brazil withdrew from the League in
huff in 1926 Argentina abstained from
joining. Spain once put in her reSigna
ton because she was not given per-
manent seat with tho big fellows on
the Council.
Tours South America.
little more than a year ago, hope
full of getting South American coun-
tries into a better humor and under
standing in regard to the League, Sir
Eric made tour of that continent. He
to the heads of the various govern
ments. On the way back to his desk
he stopped in New York, but only for
a few hours, between ships.
Upon his return to Geneva it was
announced that he had been awarded
the 1881 Wateler Peace Prize of about
$4,000 for his valuable services in the
cause of the organization of the COM
munity of nations" Sir Eric took the
credit, and let the cash go, He sug-
geSted to the Carnegie Foundation,
which put up the money for the prize,
to hand the sum over to some organi-
zation engaged in furthering the ideals
of the League. His prize money was
then given to the International Fed
GRAFTON of League of Nations Associa-
tiOnS in Brussels.
These are the phases Of Sir Eric's job
that have produced newspaper copy.
But the task has many other angles
that attract less notice. In the League
SeCretariat there are II major divi-
StonS, financial and administrative
commissions, commissions on minori-
ties, on the workings of international
law the limitation of armaments,
transit, health social work and intel
lectual cooperation. An entirely new
machine for international collaboration
and consultation has been constructed
at Geneva, in which Sir Eric helped
design as we'll as steer.
Successor to Have Simpler Task.
Whoever gets his job will have to be
approved by three-fourthS of the mem
Der nations. That is provided for in.
the covenant of the League. Naturally,
each nation will have favorite son to
begin with. Britain would like to see
another Briton at the post, France
would prefer a Frenchman, and so on
Sir Eric, if he retireS definitely from
work. goes equipped with plenty of
hobbies to occupy his time, He is a
constant and steady, though not bril-
liant, golfer. He occasionally plays
tennis and enjoys bridge. Like so many
other prominent men, he is detective
story fan. But he may not intend to
retire from the diplomatic stage. There
have been occasional reports that he
would like to be British Ambassador to
Washington.
Thanks, partly to his own achieve
mentS. the man who gets his job in
Geneva will probably have an easier
row to hoe than Sir Eric has trudged
these 13 years. Progress, he has
said has been made by the League to
such a degree that he is convinced
that in the job of being secretary gen.
eral the first ten years were the