Evening star., 1933-05-28

response to kilograms from BRAND call
ing the attention of both disputants to
their pledges as signatories Of the League
covenant, very reassuring responses came
from both La Paz and Asuncion. The
Paraguayan foreign minister cabled that
Paraguay does not refuse any concilia-
ton procedure for the settlement of her
dispute, still less the procedure laid
down in conventions to which she has
given her solemn acceptance" No less
categorical was the cable from the Presi-
dent and the foreign minister OF Bo-
livia, stating that the Council might
rest assured that the Bolivian republic
would not depart. from the principles
and obligations contained in the cove
nant."
IN 1928 it was still quite plausible to sup
pose that governmental pledges of this
character were of rather greater value
than the paper on which they were in
scribed. The anxieties of the Council
were allayed And there was universal
qualification for the happy solution
found for reconciling League response
bilities in the dispute with possible sus-
capabilities over the Monroe Doctrine in
the United States. For by coincidence
it happened that the very day that this
Lugano Council session opened, there
was convened in Washington the Pan
American Conference on Cancellation
and Arbitration, which was designed to
provide further assurance for the peace
full settlement of international contro-
versies that might arise in the Western
Hemisphere. To this conference, after
consultation with the United States and
the Argentine, the Council passed the
task of securing a definite settlement of
the dispute.
No passing the buck" was involved in
this reference to an obviously competent
American body On the contrary, it was
felt that the Council had fulfilled its role
very competently and tactfully, but
without any undue obeisance to Wash
ington. AS the Uruguayan delegate OBJ
served at the next meeting Of the League
Assembly: 1.-The Council action deserves
to be emphasized, implying as it does a
recognition of the fact that Latin
America constitutes an integral part OF
the League"
There was no necessity for the De-
partment of State to assert that the
Pan-American Conference had received
a mandate from the League. And If the
Intervention of that conference had
proved permanently successful there
would be no story now, other than re-
cording as past history an important
step in drawing together and reconciling
the triangular interests of the League,
of Latin America as whole, and Of the
United States. The conference, more
over, was temporarily very successful in
this task. Through the efforts Of spe-
cial commission which it appointed, Bo-
livia and Paraguay in September, 1929,
agreed to renew diplomatic relations and
to restore the status quo prevailing In
the Chaco before the fighting of the
preceding December.
That solution has not proved perma-
nent. Since last Summer really serious
warfare has been raging between the
two countries. The American minister
to Paraguay is quoted as estimating the
casualties of that nation alone as about
$4,000 to date. Now worldwide attention
has been focused on the dispute by the
declaration of the President of Para
quay, on May 10, that "a state of war"
exists with Bolivia. There is, of course,
a distinction between this executive
decree and a formal declaration of war
against Bolivia, but in its practical
effects the distinction becomes rather
fine, particularly because the evident OBJ
jective of the Paraguayan action is to