Evening star., 1940-07-28
End of the League?


ated by the treaty of Versailles. 1t
came into existence on January 10,
1920, and, in the terms of it's cove
nant or constitution, provided that
member nations will not 60 to war
before submitting their disputes
with each other, or, with states not
members of the League, to arbitra-
ton and a delay of from three to
nine months" The signatories
agreed that any nation violating
this pledge is automatically in
state of outlaWry with the other
nations, which are bound to sever
all economic and political relations
with the defaulting member" 1t
was the purpose of the high con-
tracing parties "to promote inter-
national cooperation and to achieve
international peace and security by
the acceptance of obligations not to
resort to war; by the prescription of
open, just and honorable relations
between nations; by the firm estab-
lishment of the understandings of
international law as the actual rule
OF conduct among governments; and
by the maintenance of justice and
Scrupulous respect for all treaty
obligations in the dealings of or
ganized peoples with one another"
Such was the dream. President
Woodrow Wilson, in the last of the
speeches made by him in behalf of
the League-his final effort at
Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25,
l9l9-declared that the treaty lis not
merely settlement with Germany;
it is readjustment Of those great
injustices which underlie the whole
structure of European and Asiatic
society"
OF course, the sentiment so ex-
pressed was not new. Neither was
1t narrowly partisan Mr.. Wilson
read to the listeners at Pueblo the
words of Theodore Roosevelt, who
had written: The one effective
move for obtaining peace is by an
agreement among all the great pow
ers in which each should pledge itself
not only to abide by the decisions of
common tribunal, but to back it's
decisions by force. =" The nations
should agree on certain rights that
should not be questioned, such as
territorial integrity, their right to
deal with domestic affairs, and with
such matters as whom they should
admit to citizenship. All should
guarantee each of their number in
possession of these rights"
Nor was the vision altogether
utopian. Long after Mr.. Wilson had
died Viscount Cecil of Chelwood was
to insist: The League of Nations
is not an abnormal achievement of
human idealism-a great leap in ad-
vance beyond the achievements of
the present age, outstripping the
practical needs and requirements of
the world. On the contrary, it is a
practical method for achieving prac-
tical ends which are of Importance
to every citizen of every country.
The demand for an international
organization to prevent war has
often been made in the last four CEN
turies. Fundamentally, this demand
is that the relations of states shall
be subjected to something analogous
to the system of law and order to
which men have subjected them
selves within the smaller units in
which they live"
But. largely because the League
was bound to the treaty for the
liquidation of the strife of 1914-1918,
it was handicapped from the start.
The United States declined to join,
Germany did not become member
until 1926, Russia not until 1884.
Meanwhile, Japan and Italy were
moving in the direction of defiance.
The climax developed when Adolf
Hitler annexed Austria to the Reich
in 1888. Now Joseph A. C. Avenol,
his resignation to the member states.
The realities" of the present con-
dition of the world, he explains, mo
longer justify maintenance of po-
litical high direction" Perhaps this
decision marks the end of the ex-
pertinent.
1t does not follow, however, that
the essential philosophy of the
League was wrong. Even when the
unfortunate circumstances of the
beginning are granted, it still re-
mains a fact that millions of people
shared with Mr.. Wilson the wish
that universal harmony might be
established on earth through the
instrumentalities of Geneva. They
were disappointed. Not until in
Gods own time there is renais-
sance Of the spirit of freedom will
their original hope b justihed.