Evening star., 1934-09-23
BY GASTON NERVAL.

A S THE Assembly of the League
~ of Nations opened, few
II days ago. with delegations
a from more than so countries
attending, the increasing in
fluence of Latin America in the
League was stressed by editorialists
and newspaper correspondents. Action
bv the Latin American bloc permitted
the election of Chile and Spain to
the Council. and caused the invita-
ton to Ecuador to rejoin the League.
A long period of coldness and lack
of interest in the League had pre-
vailed south of the Rio Grande. fol-
lowing the inability of the Geneva
statesmen to handle properly some
Latin American problems. In the past
few years. however. the Latin Amer
lean governments. probably moved
by a desire to profit automatically
from the privileges of the League
and by their own failure to find other
outlets for the solution Of their feuds.
have been rejoining in the League S
activities. as if they had renewed
their once lost confidence in Geneva
This time, though, they had learned
their lesson Convinced that so long
as they acted separately their voices
would not be heard, the Latin Ameri-
/ can delegates got together and de-
cided to constitute a regional bloc
for the exercising of joint action.
Alone. they had been dlsregarded;
together, they could be in a position
to make their influence felt by the
rest of the Leagues members, if only
by their number.
Exercises Influence.
In union there is strength. AS soon
as the announcement of this peace
alliance" among the Latin American
representatives to the League was
made. reports were spread in inter-
national circles that the Latin Amer
lean bloc would Immediately exercise
its influence to gain larger participa-
tion in the World Court. the League S
permanent tribunal of justice. And
so they did. with the result that the
Leagues Council, fulfilling their
wishes. elected three Latin American
judges among the Is who form the
World Court. They were Sanchez de
Bustamante of Cuba. Guerrero of
Salvador and Urrutia of Colombia.
OF course, together with the grow
ing prestige of Latin America in
Geneva, there developed a sudden in
terest among the Leagues directors
to cultivate and increase the SYM
pathies of the Latin American gov
ernments toward the League.
1t was. undoubtedly, with this in
mind that the Leagues Council acted
rapidly in the case of the first border
clashes between BolivianS and Para
guayans over the Chaco territorial
dispute. The League collaborated then
in averting a serious crisis, and, later
on, its efforts in trying to put an
end to the hostilities, which started
with the second clash of Bolivian and
Paraguayan regulars, in July of 1882,
have been regarded as further in
dication of the growing Importance
| accorded in Geneva to Latin American
! affairs.
The personal tour of South Ameri-
ca, which Sir Eric Drummond, then
secretary general of the Council. made
not long ago, corroborated the i'm
preston that the Leagues directors
had fully realized the value of Latin
American cooperation. When the
Leagues high executive undertook
such long journey through the Latin
republics, and gave it full publicity.
it was easy to understand that he was
seeking something else than glance
at the natural beauties and pic
turesque landscapes of the Southern
countries. Editorial opinion through
out the continent Immediately recog-
nized behind Sir Eric's trip some
thing more than pleasure seeking or
q mere diplomatic courtesy.
AS an ambassador of good will, Sir
| Eric accomplished his mission. He