Evening star., 1934-07-29

N~AH AH'S AN AueiAes Al bAAS AubulC VI biC
means proposed is disclosed the old
world explanation of the present COL
lapse of the League.
On this side of the Atlantic there
has been a general unwillingness to
recognize the cause or, indeed, In
certain quarters even the fact OF the
League collapse The reason for this
is simple. Such recognition would
carry with IL the realization that the
Geneva body could only be salvaged
by action in which the United States
Is today totally unwilling to particle
pate.
Cause and Cure Plain.
The cause and cure of the break
down at Geneva are equally plain.
The effort to set up a system of law
and courts without any provision for
police has proved futile.
Failure to provide the League with
police powers and resources is due to
the fact that first the United States
and then Great Britain refused to
share In such an operation. To avoid
that necessity America stayed out OF
the League altogether and Britain re-
jected the protocol. After that the
League was left in the position OF
Woodrow Wilson when he was trying
to prevent the Germans from sinking
passenger ships by writing notes.
Actually the success or failure Of
the League turned on the accuracy OF
two major assumptions. Mr.. Wilson
believed that as result of the World
War all the peoples of the wosI6 @0hld
be willing to pledge themselves to
recognize and respect the territorial
integrity Of all other countries. He
was so satisfied that all the other
countries would stand ready to Join IN
enforcing the law II one nation broke
the law and resorted 70 violence.
Not only all of the nations debated
in the World Wa, but some of the
victorious countries as well, notably
Italy and Japan. refused to accept ex-
isting frontiers as permanent. Others
among the victors. like the United
States and Great Britain. declined to
undertake any responsibility for from
tiers other than their own or those
of states whose security was locked
up with their own.
Once those two decisions had been
disclosed. however, the League was
reduced to the level of signboard
which could tell people the right
road to take, but could do nothing
to compel them to follow 1t. Once
the Japanese had indulged In their
Manchurian operation there was no
further possibility Of disgusting the
fact that the League provided no
protection for nations which were the
victims of aggression. The promises
they had made in ratifying the COW
enant did not restrain aggressors.
Nations Begin to Arm.
After that the various nations of
the world did precisely what was to
be expected under the circumstances
they began to arm as fast and furt-
ously as they could. When, more
over, a Disarmament Conference un-
dertook to check that process 1t
failed instantly, completely and def
nitively. Nations, like citizens Of
state, do not lay aside their weapons
until they are sure that the police are
able and willing to give them pro-
lection from dangers which are real.
In the long run the test Of the
efficiency of fire department Is the
local insurance rate. In international
affairs the insurance rate is repre-
sented by the annual expenditure for
armaments. Today 1t is an indisputa-
BILE fact that, generally speaking,
Europe is as heavily armed as 1t
was in 1914 and Is still rushing to
expand its armaments. What further
is necessary upon the
value peoples attach to the League
of Nations as means of preventing
war?
In America friends of the League,
faced by the evidence of its contem-
porary decline, are discussing the
necessity of amending the covenant.
But, obviously, that would be about
as effective as changing the punctua-
ton in the warrant for Dillinger's
The single trouble with the
covenant is that it has no force
behind 1t and without force it cannot
have any practical value.
But the American friends Of the
League know there Is no possibility
Of enlisting American force and the
British champions of Geneva are up
against the same proposition. Some
one has lately called attention to the
fact that, while the whole Of the last
phase Of the Napoleonic episode be-
tween the return from Elba and
lasted but a hundred days
and the Austro-Prussian War Of 1866
but six weeks, yet it took the League
of Nations year and half to
get the report of the Lytton Conmis-
sion indicting Japan for the Man
churian affair, and when the report
had been made nothing could be
done about it.
League Interest Dropped.
OF course. after that no country
which saw itself in danger of attack |
paid any further attention to the
League On the contrary, all Of the
nations along the western frontiers |
Of Germany-for example, France, |
Belgium. and even Switzerland-went /
to work to nuild forts and equip |
armies. They accepted the bitter but |
obvious truth that their sole means