Evening star., 1934-06-24
BY GASTON NERYAL.

| BY GASTON NERVAL.
MIDST simple, but significant
| n ceremonies Leticia, the small
| II river port which for the past
u year and a half kept two
South American republics on
| the verge of war, was this week peace
i fully returned to Columbia Sover-
| eighty.
Thus ended one of the strangest
| international conflicts of our day, the
part which the League Of Nations
played in it being one of its most
original and interesting features. The
| Leticia controversy may not have ad-
| ded to the glories or the prosperity OF
either Columbia or Peru, but it did
| give the League of Nations an op-
portunity to regain some of the pres
| tige it had lost in other parts of the
world.
When the armed conflict was stop
ped last year. through League efforts
and Columbia and Peru agreed to
start direct negotiations, students OF
| international affairs noticed two in
| novations in the agreement which
were bound to test the efficiency and
| the possibilities of the League.
Such innovations were: First, the
establishment of an international
police force. under League officers, to
maintain order in the territory in dis
pute and to insure the fulfillment OF
the Leagues recommendations; and
second, the abandonment of the old
| fashioned and mistaken conception OF
| the Monroe Doctrine under which the
| privilege of saying the last word in
any dispute arising in the new world
had been enormously reserved to the
United States, and to the United
States alone.
Sets Precedent.
The first one might have q bearing
on the rapidly changing physiOgnOmy
of international law 1t set a prece-
dent for the future never yet at
tempted, though often mentioned anc
suggested by the advocates of an in
, ternational organization of peace.
For the first time a serious quarre
between two sovereign nations, il
which territory and that infinitely
more dangerous element. "nationa
pride" were involved, was placed
under the supervision of a specially
appointed League commission. Anc
the passions of popular sentiment il
the two diSputant countries were sue
cessfully checked by the intervention
Of an alien influence, with the force
Of world opinion behind it. For the
first time the administration of the
territory matter of the controversy
was left to third party, with relin.
quishment of strategic military posi-
tons on both sides.
All this, TO be sure, was unusual
| but the most revolutionary part of it
the real innovation, was in the pro-
vision for an international armed
force to insure the carrying out of tht
agreement. For the first time any
such force, selected by the League
Commission and responsible exclusive.
ly to it. was provided for. For the first
time the possibilities of an interna-
tional police to enforce internationa
justice were given recognition. For the
first time, the French thesis was giver
q chance. For the first time tht
League was given teeth.
Old Conception Lifted.
As for the second innovation-tht
Intervention of European powers in {
solely American observation-disclosures O.
pan-American affairs found it ever
more interesting than the former
Not because they had not expected it
On the contrary, every indication ir
the new foreign policy of the United
States pointed to the shelving of the
old conception of the Monroe Doctrine
in the emergency of an American con-