February 14, 1933 (2)

Resolution adopted, the president, on behalf of the assembly, expressing gratitude for the British Government's generous offer, and his satisfaction that the delegates would at once communicate with their governments.

TRAFFIC IN WOMEN AND CHU..DREN-FIFTH COMMITTEE'S REPORT

I ask that the proceedings under that title be printed without reading.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection--

Mr. MOSES. Just a moment, Mr. President. Does it have to do also with the Nansen experiment in Greece?

Mr. SHEPPARD. No; it does not. It is another title altogether, and I am trying to finish it.

Mr. MOSES. Just why did the Senator want to do that at 10 o'clock p. m., may I ask?

Mr. SHEPPARD. There has been a unanimous-consent agreement to recess.

Mr. MOSES. I understand that, but to-morrow will be another day, and the Senator may go on then.

Mr. SHEPPARD. I wish to finish to-night, if I can.

Mr. MOSES. Mr. President, if the Senator will permit me, I do not think he can wholly illuminate me on some of the things that are here spoken of as to which I should like further information.

Mr. SHEPPARD. I will do the best I can. Mr. President, I renew my request that the proceedings under the title" Traffic in Women and Children" may be printed without reading.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The matter referred to is as follows:

TRAFFIC IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN-FIFTH COMMITTEE REPORT

Mr. Fielding, Canada, chairman and Mrs. Coombe-Tennant, reporter, fifth committee, appeared on platform, the latter presenting . the committee's report on the traffic in women and children, and offering for the committee these resolutions:

" The assembly decides:

"1. That the report of the advisory committee on traffic in women and children be adopted.

"2. That in view of the fact that the system of State regulation which exists .in certain countries is thought in many quarters to encourage the traffic in women, the advisory committee should be asked by the council to consider whether, pending the abolition of the system, it could be agreed that no foreign woman should be employed or carry on her profession as a prostitute in any licensed houses and that the recommendations of the advisory committee on the subject should be included in its next report to the council."

Mrs. Coombe-Tennant pointed out how intimately the league's entire work affected women, how much of it related to matters where women had practical experience and special knowledge, and appealed to the nations without women among their delegates to consider the matter of including them in order to make the assembly more truly representative of the people as a whole and to create among their own women a deeper interest in the league. It had been often urged in the assembly, she said, that the force of the league rested on public opinion, and she then referred to the great share of women in forming public opinion in all countries, including those in which they had not taken a large share in public work. She said that it was the mother who molded the minds of her children, the citizens of to-morrow; that in every country the minds of women were a great power, though sometimes inarticulate; that ~he appealed to the women of all nations, especially of the states members of the league, to be active in the cause of peace and the league, and therefore, to study the questions with which the league dealt and on which world peace depended. She stated that now was the time for women in all countries to come forward and make sacrifices, if necessary, for peace, which. however severe, could not approach in severity the sacrifices of war; that the horrors of war might pass from the minds of men, but would never pass from the minds of mothers who gave more, far more, than life; that there was a passionate demand in the hearts of women that a way of settling international disputes, other than war, be found; that an instrument was needed for the expression and execution of that demand, and that the League of Nations _ ns was that instrument.

She added that 1f the league was to reach its full authority and force, it must become, in some true sense, a league of mothers, because it was through the women of the world that the great driving force could be given the league, a force which would sweep it on to achieve its purpose--a most diffi.cult task, one that had baffled every age.

Viscount Chelmsford, India, correcting a statement in the report, said that the Indian Legislature had ratified the convention on the traffic in women and children, and that his government was taking steps to give it effect.

Mr. Sokal, Poland, said that prohibition of employment of foreign women in licensed houses could be brought about only by an international convention, by the pending resolution the assembly was asked to request the council to ask the advisory committee on traffi.c in women and children to study this question, the results to be reported to the fourth assembly-that the Polish delegation deemed the proposed measure an effective one. Mrs. Dale, Australia, supported the measure relating to foreign women, saying that Mr. Sokal was its author, and called attention to the fact that the resolution presented the measure preceding the abolition of the system of licensed houses. She added that she could not have supported any resolution based on the assumption that the system of regulation was necessary or desirable. The Count de Gimeno, Spain, observed that public opinion in Spain was divided on the subject of licensed houses; that he would, therefore, abstain from voting, although as a medical man he favored the measure.

Resolution and report approved, Spanish delegation not voting.

Mr. SHEPPARD. Mr. President, I now come to theseventeenth meeting, Tuesday, September 26, 1922, 10 a. m.

REDUCTION OF ARMAMENTS

Mr. de la Torriente y Peraza, Cuba, chairman, and Lord Robert Cecil, South Africa, reporter, third committee, took seats on the platform.

Presenting the report of the third committee on reduction of armaments, Lord Cecil said that the league by article 8 of the covenant was assigned the duty of formulating practical schemes for armament reduction to be submitted to the governments for their final decision; that the temporary mixed commission had already assembled important statistics and secured from the governments statements of their national requirements, which in some instances not only gave detailed particulars of their armaments but also stated the broad reasons for their necessity; that these statements showed that many hundred millions of pounds and many millions of men were still required to give the nations a sense of security, entailing an enormous economic strain on the finances of the world.

He stated further that the governments had been asked to distinguish between armaments required to resist aggression and for maintenance of internal order; that the latter purpose called for a very small fraction of the total forces, thus proving that a vast price was being paid for international suspicion; that a scheme of reduction would require the establishment of a unit of military strength to serve as a standard measurement for land armaments, the number of men being no longer a satisfactory criterion; that a unit might be found by combining the factor of men with the factor of budgetary experience; that the third committee asked the assembly to authorize the temporary mixed commission to pursue its inquiries and appealed to the governments to aid the commission in its work.

He observed that naval armament presented a simpler problem than land or air armaments; that the strength of national navies depended on the number of capital ships, and that this could not be concealed; that the league's work had been simplified by the Washington conference, when the most important step ever made toward disarmament had been taken; that th~ third committee proposed that the council call an international conference of all States, whether league members or not, to consider the extension of the principles of the Washington treaty to the nonsignatory states; that the basis of this treaty was the status quo and a 10-year holiday from building; that it was clear, however, that there could not be too great an application of these principles; that there were states with armaments so small as not to be regarded as sufficient security, others without naval armaments at all; that all these questions should be left to the conference.

He contended that reduction of land armament was complicated by the possibility of sudden incursions by land; that it was not enough to provide, as in article 16, for the punishment of the aggressor, for the reason that permanent harm might be inflicted during aggression; that it was necessary to have some alternative security; and that the committee had handled this idea in its resolutions relating to a treaty of mutual guaranty.

He advanced the idea that the treaty of mutual guaranty was intended to promote disarmament and must not become a defensive alliance of the old kind; that disarmament would be defeated if the old practice of rival groups of nations allied among themselves but united against other nations should be reestablished; that the committee had provided two safeguards against this danger-first, the provision opening the new guaranty to all nations; second, the provision by which the guaranty and armament reduction would go together; that in certain cases there might be agreement to partial disarmament without a guaranty, as in the case of the Scandinavian countries or the South American countries under an agreement to be reached at the congress soon to meet at Santiago; but that no general reduction of armaments would be possible without a guaranty, while, on the other hand, nations could not be fairly expected to undertake the guaranty unless general disarmament should accompany it.

He asserted that the guaranty was designed to take out the roots of international suspicion; that it was part of the moral disarmament which must precede material disarmament; that one obstacle to moral disarmament was the unrest in Europe due to economic disorganization; that international debts and operations thus affected indirectly the question of disarmament, and the third committee had stressed the need of a settlement of these things.

He reported further that the third committee had considered a draft scheme for control of private manufacturers of arms and recommended that it be studied by the temporary mixed commission; that a melancholy story attached to the arms traffic; that if three years before a proper control of the traffic had been established, much of the recent fighting might have never taken place; that according to a report in the press the Moscow authorities were bringing considerable quantities of arms from western countries which were thus arming a government which constantly declared itself the enemy of all the existing governments of the world; that a convention for control of the arms traffic had been accepted by the powers in Paris in 1919 and the assembly at every session had strongly urged the governments to ratify it; that practically all the important nations had agreed to ratify, provided all the others ratified; that the only important exception was the United States of America, the United States Government having declared in the preceding July that it could not ratify; that in view of this declaration it was for the moment impossible to control the arms traffic; that it was hoped the Government of the United States would say why it objected to the convention and advise the league on what conditions it would cooperate.

He directed the attention of the assembly to the fact that in aviation and air attack immense progress had been made; that effective control was difficult on account of the small size of the units and the ease with which commercial airships and aeroplanes could be used for military purposes, but little alteration being necessary; that headway might be made by controlling air budgets and number of persons trained to man the air fleets of the world, and that it also might be possible to make air forces the league's special weapon in performing its duties under the covenant. He called attention to statements by experts that the effectiveness of bombs, dropped by aeroplanes, had been increased tenfold; also to the possibilities of poison gas and germ warfare, and said that while the treaty of Washington prohibited these methods, its provisions gave but little protection against these terrible possibilities. He predicted that in a future war the world's greatest cities could be made uninhabitable, the only effective reprisal being similar action against the cities of the aggressive nation. He told the assembly that the third committee had offered but one suggestion in regard to the inevitable increase in the horrors of war; that it had asked that a small committee be appointed to gather the known facts so that the peoples of the world might know what to expect.

He told the assembly in conclusion that the third committee proposed that the temporary mixed commission should be reappointed to continue its work; that it was hoped the committee would receive the assistance and support of all the league members; that the nations of the world must perish or disarm.

Mr. Sciajola, Italy, asserted that disarmament for the first time had been dealt with in all its complexity, this being largely the result of European public opinion, which had been deeply outraged by the Great War; that Lord Cecil's proposal was vague and general because certain conditions were necessary as a preliminary to disarmament; that no armament reduction was possible without a corresponding moral guaranty, a principle which was embodied in the treaty of mutual guaranty which could not immediately become a general treaty, but should be open to all States from the outset; that a close connection existed between disarmament and the economic situation, which was producing extensive unrest; that Italy was prepared to accept the proposal of Mr. de Jouvenel; that Italy had always contemplated a solution of the questions of reparation and interallied indebtedness viewed as a whole; that the league could help in such matters, however, only when the interested governments requested it to act; that the moral value of the proposals now submitted to the assembly was increased by the fact of their development within the limits of a universal organization; that they marked a step toward moral disarmament.

Mr. de Jouvenel, France, complimented the Italian delegation on its part in the discussion of disarmament, asserting that the assembly's adoption of the scheme before it would be one of the greatest victories yet achieved for idealism. He claimed that he could not admit that human nature was the only element in the universe which man could not coritrol; that in order to establish peace in the world it was first essential to believe in it; that the idea must be converted into reality; that for centuries individuals and nations had trusted force as the only means of security; that justice had been created gradually; a police system had been set up, and a broader conception of security attained. He alluded to the Permanent Court of International Justice, and held that the treaty of mutual guaranty was the beginning of a system of sanctions pending the creation of an international force to preserve international right.

He told ' the assembly that three views of the treaty of guaranty had been presented: (1) That of Lord Cecil, who wished to begin with a general treaty binding all countries, leading them to disarm in the same proportion, and giving all an effective guaranty; (2) that of the Scandinavian countries which favored general disarmament with the treaty of guaranty less extensive in scope, based on the theory that countries might undertake to keep the peace without undertaking to enforce respect for the peace from other nations; (3) that of Latin origin, which held that the general treaty should be preceded by particular treaties, lest a single nation's refusal might imperil the cause of disarmament, the particular treaties not resembling pre-war alliances but to be accessible to all nations. He claimed that it was essential to a complete victory for civilization that all minds should abandon the idea that might makes right, that all traces of invasion be obliterated and that it be made impossible; that for this purpose France, true to her traditions, had made her suggestions.

He concluded in the following words:

What, then, is the idea which must be rooted out of men's minds? It is the idea by virtue of which political, financial, and economic methods culminate in invasion. We have not only to secure ourselves against the invasion of to-morrow; we have to efface the marks of the invasion of yesterday. Reparations must follow the footsteps left by invasion.

·If we wish to avoid the war of to-morrow we must blot out the last traces of the war of yesterday. That 1s why the French representative made that first proposal to rid Europe of the increase of armaments which is the legacy of the great war; to begin by reducing the total military, naval, and air expenditure of _ every nation to the 1913 - figure, calculated by the methods of the temporary mixed commission; and he suggested in the second place the method which consists in joining together the problem of reparations and the problem of inter-allied debts in order to arrive as soon as possible at a solution of the whole economic and financial question wh.ich weighs down Europe and, after giving the nations relief from the burden of armaments, to free their minds from anxiety with regard to their economic and financial future. The committee (third) adopted both these proposals and submits them to the assembly.

In this way we hope to have served well the cause of peace to which no country 1s more attached than my own. The more strongly my country has built up its national unity, the higher 1t has raised it, the wider the prospects of humanity it has perceived, and the more it has understood that its real destiny, inherent in its nature and history, is to carry from continent to continent, from sea to sea, the benefits of civilizations ignorant of one another and thus to increase the thought of each people by the thought of all the others in the hope of compounding one day out of the spirit of every age, and the light of every clime the atmosphere which the modern man requires to draw the breath of life.

Last year at the assembly my friend and colleague, Mr. Noblemaire, who is kept from us by illness, told you how fierce was France's hatred of war. His words found an echo in your hearts. I ask you, gentlemen, to keep them in your memory and remember that, even if all the other nations forget the war, there is one that could not forget it, for she is the guardian of your graves, Great Britain, of your dominions; of yours, Italy; of yours, Belgium; and of yours, Portugal, and of the graves of all the volunteers who came from most of the countries represented in this assembly.

During the war we acted as the advance guard of civilization but we know that our victory was only possible because we were on the side of right, because one by one the civilized nations took their places at our side, and at last one day we heard the cry, sublime in its heroism and it gratitude: "Lafayette, we are here."

Conscious of having constituted the first international force to enlist in the service of peace, mounting guard around the treaties, we await relief and declare that the cause of peace will be definitely won in our eye& on the day when mankind by bringing us the treaty of mutual guaranty will say to us in turn: "France, we are here."

Assembly adjourned until afternoon with armament discussion pending.

Eighteenth meeting, Tuesday, September 26, 1922, 3.30 p. m.

CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF THIRD COMMITTEE'S REPORT ON ARMAMENT REDUCTION

Baron Hayashi, Japan, announced that the Government and public opinion of Japan sincerely desired armament reduction which had now emerged from the domain of theory and was on the way to practical realization; that the Japanese Government had promulgated its scheme for landarmament reduction, and was about to place many officers on the retired list; that Japan had been proud to participate in the Washington conference on naval armament; that he hoped the assembly would support the third committee's recommendations which had the warm approval of the Japanese delegation.

Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, British Empire, agreed with Lord Cecil's speech, saying that reports of the temporary mixed commission and the third committee . contained suggestions eminently practical, that difficulties were not concealed, and would be carefully studied during the coming year so that a definite scheme might be presented to the fourth assembly. He averred that the English race had formed a great civilian nation, content with a small force to protect its empire; that the British Empire had entered the war of 1914 because it was shocked by the violation of Belgian neutrality and was convinced that France had no aggressive designs, and would so act again if France were again similarly menaced; that after the war the British Empire began the immediate reduction of the great army it had created; that on August 1, 1914, the British Army, excluding troops from India and the Dominions, numbered 244,795; on August 1, 1918, it numbered 4,500,871; on July 1, 1922, it numbered 232,568; that the expenditure on the army from 1913 to 1914 was £34,000,- 000; from 1918 to 1919, £835,000,000; from 1922 to 1923, £79,000,000; that in connection with the last figure it should be recalled that the private soldier's pay had been trebled; that Great Britain had 60 battleships in 1914, 18 in 1922. He said that the British attitude toward the treaty of mutual guarantee would depend largely on the number of states adopting it and on the temper and tone of continental public opinion; that he agreed especially with the part of the report dealing with reparations and interallied debts; that France was undoubtedly entitled to reparation; that the problem of reparation and . war debts must be treated as a whole, and that he believed with Mr. Sciajola that the league could not intervene unless requested by the allied and associated powers; that if they failed to settle the matter the league should be asked to take it up; that in any event German cooperation and good will were essential; that he appealed to German business men for aid in solving a problem affecting all Europe and retarding disarmament. He declared that with a little good will among nations the practical proposals of the report could be carried through; that the proposals regarding manufacture of and traffic in arms were practicable but could not be accomplished without the cooperation of the United States; that the treaty of mutual guarantee was based on a logical and comprehensible plan, and that its establishment would create the needed atmosphere of peace.

Mr. Hymans, Belgium, declared that Lord Cecil, to whom he paid tribute, was both an idealist and a practical statesman; that he approved the report and resolutions, which recognized that the league could do no more than draw up plans for submission to the governments and which combined armament reduction with the principle of guaranties; that Belgium, one of the most exposed countries of Europe, was a peaceful country, but desired security; that the proposed plan was no vain formula, but a system of guaranties that would gradually bring disarmament; that experience would show whether a general treaty or regional agreements should be made; that the scheme made allowances for special cases and defined the obligations of signatories; that 1-sided disarmament was dangerous, and that states with natural means of protection should keep a sufficient force to meet international obligations.

He declared further that the necessity for moral disarmament was universally realized; that this was difficult because war had left its mark on men's minds as well as on the face of the world, and the thing that changed least was the nature of man; that some memorial should be retained, especially that of the war's result, and that time would deal with the rest; that certain political problems, including reparations, should be settled, and that the league should follow them in order to help if asked; that the league, backed by public opinion and without prejudicing the spirit of patriotism, had indicated the path to be taken.

Mr. Loudon (Netherlands) told the assembly, after praising Lord Cecil, that he hoped the third committee's resolutions would be adopted; that armament reduction must be general to be effective; that until general reduction could be obtained it was necessary to work toward moral disarma .. ment by restoring confidence of the nations; that particular treaties would help in this regard, but public opinion in many countries did not favor combination of armament reduction with treaties of guaranty; that these two questions had been treated separately by the first two assemblies and the Washington conference; that the discussions of articles 10 and 16 of the covenant had shown that many countries were apprehensive regarding treaties of mutual guaranty; that no means calculated to secure disarmament, however, should be opposed; that the settlement of certain economic and financial questions was essential to the restoration of confidence between nations; that he had confidence in the temporary mixed commission.

The Count de Gimeno [Spain] dwelt on the horrors of the war, saying, however, that it had given birth to the League of Nations, which would live if it met circumstances in accordance with that moral force which was its only weapon; that everybody wanted peace and understood that disarmament must be had so far as permitted by national safety; that peace would never come, however, until peoples ceased to hate each other; that the league could rely on the loyal help of Spain, a peaceful country.

The Emir Zoka-Ed-Dowleh [Persia] indorsed the committee resolutions, and expressed the hope that next year the representatives of the great powers could be thanked for having kept the promises just made, stating that Persia had always maintained strict neutrality, and thought armament reduction the best way to prevent war; that she had confidence in the league, and kept only a limited army, just sufficient to keep order and repel possible attacks; that she was ready, however, to reduce her military forces to the scale arranged by the league.

He agreed that the treaty of guaranty would remove the objections of nations hesitating to disarm; that the league must be universal; that it was now the time for a practical solution of the problem of a more widely extended scope for the league; that the league should recommend that the states carry on active propaganda for peace in their schools and should itself carry on propaganda; that the temporary mixed commission had so recommended, but the assembly had voted no money therefor; that the league might summon a conference at Geneva, including not only league members but the United States, Russia, Germany, and Turkey.

Mr. Munch, Denmark, voiced the desire that the temporary mixed commission would consider the resolution on the suppression of universal and compulsory military service passed by the Twentieth Interparliamentary Union Conference recently held at Vienna. He held that the reduction of armaments contemplated by the covenant was not possible unless the system should be supplanted by another form of recruiting and by a military organization corresponding more nearly to the part to be played in the future by the army as a body of international police; that an army of mercenaries, however, could be as dangerous as armies organized through conscription.

The assembly adjourned with the discussion on armament still pending.

Nineteenth meeting, September 27, 1922, 10.30 a. m.

CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF ARMAMENT REDUCTION

Mr. Branting, Sweden, declared that his country doubted whether it was well to make a general armament reduction contingent on a general treaty of guaranty; that it was apparent from the discussion of article 10 that there were serious obstacles to a general guaranty-that it was important, however, to consider all ways of reducing armament and the reported indicated useful measure for peace not dependent on a treaty of mutual guaranty; that the report also stresses the connection between reparations and intergovernmental indebtedness; that the chief obstacle to disarmament was the general sense of insecurity, but this would be modified in time.

Mr. Askenazy, Poland, spoke of Poland's exceptional position between two powerful neighbors not members of the league, and of her work, despite this and despite terrible memories, in behalf of peace.

Sir Joseph Cook, Australia, admitted some disappointment with the committee report. He deferred to the arguments that moral disarmament must precede material, that mutual confidence among nations must precede moral disarmament, and restoration of economic soundness must precede mutual confidence, and claimed that all this meant that the era of disarmament was still a long way off. He added that this made it all the more necessary, however, that the league should work on disarmament with the greatest zeal and determination. He cited the references of the French and Italian delegations to economic question, and contended that disarmament was itself an economic question. He argued that the Allies in disarming Germany had released her from a heavy economic burden, enabling her to use all her men for economic service and giving her a tremendous economic advantage over countries still burdened with armaments. He referred to the suggestion that the large state should guarantee the small states, and said that the large states themselves needed relief from armaments; that Great Britain had already taken steps toward relief while Australia had reduced its defense system by over 25 per cent. He said that four years after the war the nations of the world were still spending over a fifth of all their revenues on armaments, that reduction by a half would mean much to the economic and commercial life of Europe, that continuance of existing armaments meant slow and certain destruction.

Mr. Langi, Norway, said he hoped the temporary mixed commission would continue its work with the same energy as in the past, and would in 'due time submit its conclusions to the governments so that next year the assembly would have a definite proposal before it. He contended that armaments should be reduced so that States would not be tempted to break the fundamental undertakings and engagements of the covenant, saying he was happy to note that the idea, at first opposed, of using budgetary expenditure as a basis for armament reduction was now universally accepted. He added that the Norwegian delegation approved the committee resolutions, although he thought it dangerous to combine armament decrease with the treaty of mutual guaranty, that he noted with satisfaction the endeavor to consider economic and financial problems in connection with disarmament, that league, to vindicate its name, must try to unify the forces of good will above the conflicting forces of nationalism and make every effort to become universal.

Mr. Urrutia, Colombia, called attention to the position of the third assembly in point of time between the Washington Conference and the Pan American Congress soon to meet at Santiago, saying that the league undoubtedly welcomed the results of the former and hoped the latter would aid humanity and set up a new moral bond between the peoples of the world.

Mr. de Palacios, Spain, called attention to that part of the committee report referring to the Santiago Pan American Congress where, he said, Chile would submit the question of disarmament, and offered the following resolution in the name of the Spanish delegation:

The assembly recommends to the council that should the case arise the expert services of the League of Nations be authorized to lend their cooperation to the Pan American Conference at Santiago.

The President stated that with the assembly's assent this resolution would be embodied and offered at the proper point in the committee resolutions. Assent given and the resolution afterward adopted as a part of the committee resolutions on disarmament.

Mr. Rivos- Vicuna, Chile, expressed his thanks to the temporary Iillxed commission and the third committee for the reference to Chile in the committee resolutions, averring that Chile was following the peaceful traditions; that it had always invoked arbitration except in case of unjust aggression and had signed with Argentina the first real disarmament treaty; that in soliciting agreement with the American continent its intention was to join in working out a solution of the disarmament problem, the problem which the league was now studying; that Chile's recommendation for disarmament study at the Santiago Pan American Congress came from a desire for intimate cooperation between the peoples of the old continent and young America. He asserted that Chile wished to see collaboration established between the technical organizations of Washington and Geneva and the Santiago Congress; that the proposal just made by the Spanish delegate had that purpose; that the Chilean Government gratefully deemed it an expression of cooperation and sympathy; that when the representatives of America agreed, and reciprocally the peoples of other continents, the indispensable general agreement could be put into effect by the fourth assembly.

Mr. Zahle, Denmark, announced that the Danish delegation supported the principal recommendations of the committee, but doubted the wisdom of connecting armament reduction with the treaty of mutual guaranty; that he recommended continued study by the temporary mixed commission of armament decrease independently of guaranties. Lord Cecil, South Africa, reporting for the committee, announced acceptance of the resolution presented by Mr. de Palacios, stating that it would be voted on with the committee resolutions; that harmony had been the outstanding feature of the disarmament discussion, the text of the report and resolutions having been approved by all speakers. He affirmed that two basic ideas had been advanced, one that international suspicion was the great bar to disarmament; the other that some guaranty was essential to armament reduction, a general guaranty, conditioned on reduction, open to all, directed against none. He recalled that Mr. de Jouvenel had condemned the idea of force associated with the names of Bismarck, Nietzsche, Treitschke, and others, and said that this idea had adherents in all countries but they were everywhere a small minority; that the world desired peace and deliverance from the bondage of fear.

The President, closing the discussion, said it marked a date which would be remembered in the annals of the league; that war had shown all nations to be intimately linked together and unable to a void the consequences of a conflict, regardless of where it occurred; that the Washington conference showed the importance of particular agreements among certain states; that this conference had great significance, and that the great naval powers in consenting to sacrifices in the cause of reduction were entitled to high praise; that Chile had submitted disarmament as a question for the agenda of the Fifth Pan American Conference, shortly to assemble at Santiago, and noted with satisfaction that the assembly had recognized the special character of certain problems peculiar to the American Continent.

Mr. de Oliveira, Brazil, announced that the Brazilian delegation had been obliged to refrain from voting when the naval disarmament resolution was adopted by the third committee; that his Government now accepted in principle the idea of an international conference to consider naval disarmament; that Brazil would take part in such conference with the understanding that it would adhere to the letter and spirit of article 8 of the covenant; that the con ­ ference would have complete liberty of action, would con - sider the question not only as a whole but in its special relations. so that its conclusions might be agreeable to all countries which had not signed the Washington agreement.

The third committee's report and resolutions were then adopted.

The resolutions thus adopted were as follows:

I. (a) The assembly considers it is desirable that the temporary mixed commission should be asked to continue for another year the work which it has begun, and that its report be ' submitted at an early date previous to that of the next assembly. The assembly further requests the council to invite the members of the league to lend their assistance to the commission in its difficult task, and to give their assistance and advice with regard to proposals for reduction of land armaments and a treaty of mutual guaranty. (b) The assembly desires to express its sense of the great value of the collaboration that has existed between the temporary mixed commission and the permanent advisory commission, and trusts that it will continue and, if possible, increase. The assembly is of opinion that the great technical competence of the permanent advisory commission can not but be of essential service in the study from the technical military point of view of the questions with which the temporary mixed commission deals.

II. The assembly recommends that, as a preliminary step, the European states existing before the war in 1914, under their present description, whose juridical status has not been altered by the war, and which are not at the moment engaged in military operations which justify their armaments, be invited to reduce the total of their military, naval, and air expenditure to the figures for 1913, calculated on the basis of pre-war prices according to the method employed by the temporary mixed commission.

III. The assembly expresses its satisfaction at th~ remarkable work accomplished in collecting and drawing up statistical data in an entirely new and peculiarly difficult field.

Taking into account the work accomplished, and reserving the question of the scope it might be necessary to give to a statistical inquiry at a later date, the assembly desires to determine for the coming year the program which appears to it at the same time both immediately useful and practicable. It, therefore, proposes that this program should be limited to the two following points:

(1) Peace-time armaments.

(2) Expenditure on armaments.

The assembly considers it desirable that the council should request the permanent advisory commission to collaborate with the temporary mixed commission in that part of the work which deals with technical military, naval, and air questions.

IV. The assembly, having considered the report of the temporary mixed commission, is of opinion that the only step which could usefully be taken in connection with the surplus stocks of arms and ammunition is the control of the international traffic in arms . .

V. The assembly, having noted the proposal o! the temporary mixed commission for an international agreement for the control o! the manufacture of arms by private companies, urges on the council to consider the advisability of summoning at an appropriate moment a conference of the members of the league to embody this agreement in the form of a convention. The assembly is further of the opinion that states not members of the league should be invited to participate in this conference and to cooperate in the policy on which it may agree.

VI. The assembly: ·

(a) Considers it highly desirable that the Government o! the United States should express the objections which it has to formulate to the provisions of the Convention of St. Germain, as well as any proposals which it may care to make as to the way in which these objections can be overcome;

(b) Is of the opinion that the temporary mixed commission should be instructed to prepare a scheme for the control of the international traffic in arms to be considered by the conference which is to deal with the private manufacture o! arms.

(c) Requests the council to take such steps as it thinks advisable to carry out the purposes above indicated.

VII. (a) The assembly, having considered the report of the temporary mixed commission on the subject of the development of chemical warfare, approves its action in establishing a special subcommittee to report on the probable effects of chemical discoveries in future wars and requests the council and the temporary mixed commission to take every possible measure to secure the fullest publicity for the report of this subcommittee.

(b) The assembly requests the council to recommend the members of the league and other nations to adhere to the treaty of Washington (February 6, 1922) concerning the use of asphyxiating gas and submarines in war and other similar matters.

VIII. The assembly, having considered the answers from the governments of 26 members of the league to the inquiry issued to them by the council as to the requirements of their national security, desires to state that it attaches the utmost importance to those replies as affording a basis for the further deliberations of the temporary mixed commission and recommends to the council that it should once again urge the members of the league which have not yet sent in their replies to do so without delay. IX. The assembly approves the recommendation of the temporary mixed commission that the council should consider whether the time has not come to discuss the application of the paragraph of article 8 o! the covenant relating to the exchange o! military information between states members of the league.

X. The assembly expresses its satisfaction at the work accomplished at Washington in connection with the reduction of naval armaments.

XI. (a) The assembly welcomes with interest the Chilean Government's initiative in submitting the question of disarmament to the Pan American conference which is to meet at Santiago in March, 1923.

The assembly expresses the hope that the conference may arrive at practical solutions capable of being fitted into the more general scheme of disarmament which is being considered by the League of Nations.

(b) The assembly recommends to the council that the expert services of the League of Nations should eventually be authorized to cooperate in the work of the Pan American conference of Santiago.

XII. The assembly recommends:

(a) That an international conference should be summoned by the council as soon as possible to which all states, whether members of the league or not, should be invited, with a view to considering the extension to all nonsignatory states of the principles of the Washington treaty for the limitation of naval armaments it being understood that any special cases, including those of th~ new states, shall be given due consideration at the conference.

(b) That the report of the temporary mixed commission, together With the report and the draft convention prepared by the permanent advisory commission, as well as the text of the Washington treaty, should be forwarded immediately to the various governments for consideration.

XIII. The assembly having examined the report of the temporary mixed commission on the general principles of land and air disarmament, instructs the commission to continue its investigatiOns on the basis of these principles with a view of preparing for the consideration of the next assembly a definite scheme for the general reduction of land and air armaments.

XIV. (a) The assembly having considered the report of the temporary mixed commission on the question of a general treaty of mutual guaranty, being of opinion that this report can 1n no way affect the complete validity of all the treaties of peace or other agreements which are known to exist between states, and considering that the report contains valuable suggestions as to the methods by which a treaty of mutual guaranty could be made effective is of the opinion that:

1. No scheme for the reduction o! armaments within the meaning of article 8 of the covenant can be fully successful unless it is general.

2. In the present state of the world many governments would be unable to accept the responsibility for a serious reduction of armaments unless they received in exchange a satisfactory guaranty of the safety of their country.

3. Such a guaranty can be found in a defensive agreement which should be open to all countries, binding them to provide immediate and effective assistance in accordance with a prearrangea pian in the event of one of them being attacked, provided that the obligation to render assistance to a country attacked shall be limited in principle to those countries situated in the same part of the globe. In cases, however, where, for historical geographical, or other reasons, a country is in special danger of attack, detailed arrangements should be made for its defense, in accordance with the above-mentioned plan.

4. As a general reduction of armaments is the object of the three preceding statements, and the treaty of mutual guaranty the means of achieving that object, previous consent to this re· duction is therefore the first condition for the treaty.

This reduction could be carried out either by the means of a general treaty, which is the most desirable plan, or by means of partial treaties designed to be extended and open to all countries. In the former case the treaty will carry with it a general reduction of armaments. In the latter case the reduction should be proportionate to the guaranties afforded by the treaty.

The council of the league, after having taken the advice of the temporary mixed commission, which will examine how each of these two systems could be carried out, should further formulate and submit to the governments, for their consideration and sovereign decision, the plan of the machinery, both political and military, necessary to bring them clearly into effect.

(b) The assembly requests the council to submit to the various governments the above proposals for their observation and requests the temporary mixed commission to continue its investigations and, in order to give precision to the above statements, to prepare a draft treaty embodying the principles contained therein. XV. The assembly of the League of Nations,

Whilst declaring that the reduction of armaments contemplated by article 8 of the covenant can not achieve its full effect for world peace unless it be general,

Desires to emphasize the importance of regional agreements for the purpose of reducing armaments--agreements which, if necessary, might even go beyond the measures decided upon in respect of general reduction;

And requests the council to ask the temporary mixed commission to take into consideration during its subsequent work the possibility of recommending the inclusion of similar agreements to states which might be concerned.

XVI. The assembly,

Considering that moral disarmament is an essential preliminary condition of material disarmament, and that this moral disarmament can only be achieved 1n an atmosphere of mutual confidence and security,

Declares:

That such confidence can not be attained so long as the world continues to suffer from disorganization of the exchanges, economic chaos, and unemployment, and that the only .method of remedying these evils is to put an end to the uncertamty which prevails regarding the means for the restoration of the devastated regions and the settlement of the interalliec1 debts;

Expresses the hope that, in so far as these questions can be regulated by the unaided efforts of the European nations , the governments signatories of the international treaties and agreements which deal with these questions, and within the framework of which they must be envisaged, will achieve as soon as possible a general settlement of the problem of reparations and lnterallied debts.

It further recommends:

That the council shall devote constant attention to every effort made in this direction by the governments concerned. it being understood that it can only usefully assist in the solution of these problems if requested to do so by the governments in question.

GREEK AND ARMENIAN REFUGEES

Prince Arfa-ed-Dowleh, Persia, read a telegram relating to Greek and Armenian refugees in Asia Minor from the Turkish representative at Rome, stating that he had referred the Persian delegation's request for conference with the league's representatives to Mustapha Kemal Pasha and would transmit reply when received.

The president announced promise of Greek delegation to contribute a million drachmas for the refugees.

He also announced a communication from Swedish delegation to the effect that the Swedish Government was prepared to subscribe a million pounds for this purpose.

NEAR EAST-REPORT BY SIXTH COMMITTEE

Jonkheer Loudon, Netherlands chairman, and Viscount Islin, reporter, sixth committee, took the platform, the latter presenting the committee's report on the Near East and submitting for the committee this resolution:

The assembly, animated by a sincere desire to see peace reestablished in the Near East and to support any action which may be taken to achieve that object, learns with satisfaction that it 1s proposed to hold a special conference to consider the present situation with a view to finding a solution.

The assembly trusts that the council, without interfering in any way with the proposed negotiations, will adopt such measures as it may deem timely and warranted by the stage reached in the negotiations in · order to give effect to the unanimous wish of the assembly for an early restoration of ~eace.

Doctor Nansen, Norway, expressed appreciation of the resolution, stating that it indicated that the league had powers in reserve which could be used when all other means had failed.

The assembly adopted the resolution.

RUSSIAN REFUGEES-REPORT BY FIFTH COMMITTEE

Mr. Fielding, Canada, chairman, and Mr. Ader, Switzerland, reporter, fifth committee, took places on platform, the latter presenting the committee's report on Russian refugees and paying tribute to Doctor Nansen. The report covered the work of charitable organizations and Red Cross societies, the governmental conferences on identity certificates, passports, and legal status of Russian refugees, and made special mention of the work of the Czechoslovak Government, which was maintaining 5,000 Russian and Ukranian students.

Mr. Ader then alluded to the question of repatriation, saying . that the committee had not discussed it, but several members of the committee had made reservations as to desirability of repatriation. He said that he was expressing, therefore, only his personal opinion; that it was shown in the report of the high commissioner on repatriation that certain Russian refugee organizations and the Soviet Government had asked the American relief association to conclude an arrangement facilitating repatriation; that the high commissioner in his report said he hoped to conclude such arrangement on the basis of the amnesty which had been offered by the Soviet Govermnent; that the arrangement should provide every possible guaranty for the safety of the refugees; that no refugee should be compelled to return against his will; and that those repatriated should be assured full liberty and security both of person and occupation. The speaker stated that he knew nothing of the terms of the published amnesty; that numerous Russian associations supporting the old regime had sent a strong protest to the League of Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, claiming to speak for 1,500,000 of their fellow countrymen, asking that nothing be done to secure the return of those opposed to the existing political system in Russia. Mr. Ader added that the league should act with the utmost caution and that any agreement with the Soviet Government should be submitted to the league for approval; that he felt it his duty, representing the International Committee of the Red Cross, to bring to the attention of the league and the high commissioner the necessary conditions of an arrangement with the Soviet Government.

Doctor Nansen, Norway, replied that a new question not on the agenda had been raised and asked postponement of further discussion until the next meeting.

The assembly ordered the suggested postponement.

Twentieth meeting, Thursday, September 28, 1922, 10 a. m.

CONTINUE DISCUSSION OF QUESTION OF RUSSIAN REFUGEES

Doctor Nansen, Norway, expressed a desire to reply to certain statements of Mr. Ader regarding Russian refugees. He asserted that he, like Mr. Ader, had received protests from Russian organizations against repatriation; that similar protests from Russian groups had come the year before, when relief of starvation in Russia was proposed; that such pro- · tests, rising from political considerations, should not be allowed to impede relief work; that the return of refugees against their will had never been suggested; that some Russian refugee organizations had announced in favor of repatriation; that to this end and on suggestions by the Hoover organization for relief work and the American Red Cross the repatriation about of 20,000 refugees within the next few months to parts of Russia with favorable local conditions, namely, the Don, Kuban, and Terek regions, had been proposed. He advised the assembly that these refugees were not to go back without guaranties; that U) every refugee would sign a declaration that he returned voluntarily, (2) the Soviet Government would make a new guaranty in addition to the general amnesty already offered, (3) a representative of the relief organization in Russia would supervise the arrival of the refugees and see that they were well treated, (4) a small delegation would return from Russia and report to their compatriots as to their reception and the conditions prevailing in Russia. He informed the assembly that it was necessary to remove as many refugees as possible from Constantinople and the Balkans; that twice in the last 12 months famine had threatened them, and their position was growing more difficult; that if no effort at rapatriation was made, they would return on their own initiative; that refugees had already returned from Constantinople, Greece, and Bulgaria without the consent of the Russian Government, without papers or guaranty; that it was his feeling that it was as wrong to refuse . repatriation to a refugee desiring it as to force it on one not desiring it.

Mr. Ader, Switzerland, offered his thanks to Doctor Nansen for the explanation, stating that he took note of the fact that no one would be compelled to return against his will, insisting, however, on the league being shown agreements between the high commissioner and the Soviet Government before they became operative, so that the league might be assured that the guaranties were genuine and effective, and adding that he was moved by no political purpose, that he felt the representations by certain Russian groups should not be ignored.

The assembly adopted the resolutions of the fifth committee on Russian refugees, the resolutions reading as follows:

I. The assembly, having heard the report of the high commissioner of the League of Nations for Russian refugees on the work which he has accomplished during the past year, approves this report, and wishes to express its entire satisfaction with the way in which the high commissioner has discharged the duties intrusted ' to him and to · record its high appreciation of the service he has rendered to the refugees and to the league. As the work is not yet finished, the assembly invites the high commissioner to continue to apply the same methods of work as hitherto.

It further decides:

II. To invite the council to request the governments of the memb - ers - of · the league to continue to lend to the high commissioner the support and assistance which they have hitherto given him, especially as regards the development of the means of general and pro f essional education and the securing of employment for the refugees;

liT. To invite the council to draw the attention of the governments of the members of the league to the importance of the system of identity certificates adopted at the conference on the subject, held at Geneva in July, 1922, and to request those governments which have not yet given a favorable reply to consider whether they can not without delay bring this system into force; IV. To request the council to provide by international cooperaation for the maintenance of the Russian refugees who are incapable of providing for their own livelihood in the states where they are congregated.

ASIA MINOR REFUGEES

Doctor Nansen, Norway, stated that the Government of Norway was prepared to give £1,000 toward relief of refugees in Asia Minor.

WORK OF ORGANIZATION FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSIT-SECOND COMMITTEE'S ' S REPORT

Mr. Chodzko, Poland, chairman; Mr. Adatci, Japan, reporter, second committee, came forward to the platform, the latter reading the resolutions contained in the report of the committee on the work of the organization for communications and transit. The resolutions were as follows:

I. The assembly, after taking cognizance of the first and second reports of the advisory and technical committee for communications and transit on the work of the organization for communications and transit between the second and third assemblies, notes with satisfaction:

(a) The progress achieved in giving practical effect to the recommendations adopted by the conference on passports, customs, formalities, and through tickets, held at Paris in October, 1920, and also to the conventions and recommendations adopted at the Barcelona conference;

(b) The efforts made by the organization for communications and transit to facilitate the ratifications of the Barcelona conventions or the adhesions to those conventions;

(c) The investigations undertaken for the purpose of drawing up the convention on the international regime of railways as well as a general convention on the international regime of ports and for the purpose of applying in the domain of transport the principle of equitable treatment for commerce;

(d) The measures taken with a view to carrying out the resolutions of the Genoa conference, transmitted to the organization for communications and transit by the council of the league with the object of developing the restoration of the actual means of transport in Europe; and

Invites the organization for communications and transit, which will hold a second general conference at Geneva during the year 1923 , in accordance with the recommendation of the general conference at Barcelona, approved by the council of the league at its meeting of June 18, 1921, to continue, on the lines at present adopted, to carry out the duties with which it has been intrusted. The assembly believes that the investigations now undertaken will be prosecuted with sufficient energy to insure that all those which appear likely to give rise to an international agreement may form the subject of definite proposals, to be submitted without delay to the second general conference.

IT. The assembly recommends the organization for communication and transit of the league to transmit to the various governments concerned at least three months before the meeting of the conference, which shall be held during 1923, the draft conventions or recommendations which It has drawn up.

m. The assembly takes note with satisfaction of the imminent meeting in Paris of the conference of railway administrations, convened by the French railway administrations in conformity with the decisions of the Geneva conference, and draws the attention of the council to the fact that it is desirable that measures should be taken for the representation of the communications and transit organization of the league at the conference in question, which organization has been entrusted in virtue of the decisions referred to above (which have been accepted by the council and the assembly), with the task of examining the progress achieved in carrying them out.

Mr. Adatci observed that the organization for communications and transit had authority to communicate directly to the governments its opinions and recommendations, having its own responsibility and a special autonomy, that the League of Nations might congratulate itself on what had WORK been done in the field now under consideration, that the convention on freedom of transit and the general convention on the regime for navigable waterways of international concern had been ratified and would be put into force, that the Geneva conference had approved the work of the advisory and technical committee for communications and transit, that a second international conference on communications and transit would meet at Geneva, and that the French Government was organizing a conference of railway administrations, and that at the conference the league would be represented.

Resolutions adopted.

OBSCENE PUBLICATIONs--FIFTH COMMITTEE'S REPORT

Mr. Fielding, Canada, chairman; Prof. Gilbert Murray, South Africa, reporter, fifth committee, took seats on platform, the latter presenting the report of the committee on obscene publications, and offering these resolutions:

The assembly decides:

1. To ask the council of the league, in accordance with article 24 of the covenant, to authorize the secretariat to assist members of the league and any other states which are parties to the international movement for the suppression of obscene publications, in all measures which may be necessary for this purpose.

2. To ask the council of the league to draw the attention of all states to the international agreement of 1910. Those states which have signed or acceded to it should be asked to give full effect to its provisions, and those states which are not yet parties to it should be urged to accede to it at an early date.

3. To invite the council to communicate the draft convention of 1910 with a questionnaire to every state with the request that it should forward its comments thereon to the secretariat of the League of Nations. The secretariat will coordinate the replies received and submit them as a whole to the French Government. requesting it, on behalf of the council, in view of the initiative taken by that Government in 1910, to convene a new conference under the auspices of the league, to be held at Geneva about the time of the fourth assembly, and to be composed of plenipotentiaries empowered to draw up the text of a new convention and to sign such a convention.

The reporter for the committee, Professor Murray, called the assembly's attention to the fact that a draft convention prepared by the French Government in 1910 had received the signatures of various powers, and said that the nations were now asked to give adhesion to this convention, France being invited to continue the work under the auspices of the League of Nations.

Mr. Reynald, France, expressed pleasure in what he termed the excellent results of the international conference of 1910 which the French Government had convened, but said that the convention resulting from that conference required to be completed, and that for its completion the British Government had submitted the subject to the league. He claimed that it would be necessary to summon · an international conference, because penal laws should be brought into conformity; that it was the duty of the league to affirm the universal character of moral laws; that each country, however, must be left to adjust these universal laws to its respective national system of morality; that the committee proposed to leave to the governments the initiative as to international conferences; that France would make every effort to carry out the task intrusted to her.

Mademoiselle Vacaresco, Rumania, announced that the committee on intellectual cooperation had referred the consideration of the problem to a committee charged with the duty of combating the scourge of society, thereby emphasizing the distinction between worthy literature and obscenities; that the convention of 1910, called on the generous initiative of France, had demonstrated that the strength of this scourge was to be found in its international character; that the states should apply remedies and the league render the convention of 1910 effective in harmony with article 24 of the covenant.

Mr. Bellegarde, Haiti, contended that it was difficult to find where morality began and terminated; that some nations had often become unduly sensitive; that while trade in infamous publications should be punished, care should be had not to restrict the freedom of art.

Resolutions carried.

OF ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEES, REPORT BY SECOND COMMITTEE

Mr. Chodzko, Poland, chairman; Mr. M. Holsti, Finland, and Mr. Van Eysinga, Netherlands, reporters, second committee, came forward with the report and resolutions of that committee on the work of the economic and financial committees.

Mr. Holsti presented the first part of the report, relating to the worK of the financial committee. He praised the financial committee's work during the previous year and called attention to the passage in its report stating that no solution could be found for existing economic disorganization until a practical solution had been found for the problem of intergovernmental indebtedness. He remarked that the third committee of the assembly had reached the same conclusion in connection with the problem of armament reduction.

Mr. Van Eysinga, Netherlands, presented the second part of the second committee report, which related to the work of the economic committee, this work during the preceding year having consisted largely, he said, in considering the problem of the equitable treatment of commerce under article 23 of the covenant, including notably unfair discrimination against the goods and vessels of foreign countries, unfair competition, and customs formalities. He urged that the assembly strongly insist that the economic committee continue its study of the equitable treatment of commerce to the end that this principle might have the widest and speediest application.

Lord Cecil, South Africa, stressed the importance of the work of the economic and financial committees; that the assembly could not do more than review and encourage this work, but it was not to be imagined that the league's activities in this respect were limited to the brief examination by a committee of the assembly; that the league might well be proud of the work of the economic and financial committees; that if the league's recommendations through these committees had been accepted by European governments, much of the present economic disorganization would have been a voided.

Mr. Van Eysinga agreed that the second committee's report did not adequately cover the work of the economic and financial committees, but said that the problems investigated by them were mentioned in the resolutions about to be submitted, and that the information in the second committee's report could be supplemented from additional sources.

The resolutions of the second committee on the work of the economic and financial committees were as follows:

I. The assembly has noted with satisfaction the services which the financial committee has rendered to the council in its several tasks, notably in regard to the finances of Danzig, the technical aid to be given to Albania, and the restoration of the financial condition of Austria. It highly appreciates the activities of the committee and it hopes that the committee will consider practical proposals on all spe"cific subjects which, in present conditions, might be ripe for solution by collaboration between states, and that the committee will pursue its inquiries on practical lines so as to arrive at positive results. It hopes that the study of the various questions connected with the stabilization of currencies, and in particular that of the foreign trade balance and balance of payment of various states, which is an essential element of the problem, will be actively pressed forward so as to lead to the publication of reports which will throw light on this question which is one of urgent importance.

II. The assembly has again had its attention drawn to the persistent gravity of the financial dislocation and its increasingly serious effects upon the commercial and industrial structure of the whole world. It reiterates its belief that an essential part of the remedy for these evils is the application of the rules of finance laid down in the resolutions adopted at the Brussels financial conference and recently indorsed at the Geneva conference. It invites the financial committee to renew the inquiries which it undertook last year on the progress made in the application of these resolutions by various governments. It a1so invites the committee to investigate, with a view to effective results, and in collaboration, formal or informal, with the governments concerned, all practical proposals which may be made for the completest possible application of the principle of sound finance which these resolutions embody.

III. The assembly, appreciating the advantages which may accrue for the finances of various countries from the disinterested a-ssistance of an international body of impartial experts invites the financial committee to hold itself at the disposal of the governments of the states members of the league and to render them the assistance in its power for such questions and in such forms as may be found most appropriate.

IV. (a) The assembly notes with satisfaction the thorough inquiry which the economic committee has made into the questions concerning the equitable treatment of commerce and the progress achieved in regard to certain aspects of the problem.

(b) It looks forward to a modification of the existing international conventions on unfair competition in consequence of the committee's proposals and approves the procedure adopted by the council with a view to securing this end.

(c) It approves the proposal to convene a conference of experts on customs formalities. It trusts that all possible measures will be taken not only to promote the success of the conference but also to follow up its conclusions in such a way as to secure practical action by the governments with the least possible delay.

(d) The assembly notes the further work undertaken in connection with the problem of the equitable treatment of commerce. It counts upon valuable recommendations being submitted at an early date in regard to the treatment of foreign persons and firms. (e) It hopes, however, that the investigation thus successfully begun will be extended and continued without interruption in order that the principle of equitable treatment of commerce may be given the earliest and most general application possible.

V. The assembly has noted the progress made and the results achieved by the economic committee in the other tasks which it has undertaken, partly as a consequence of the resolutions of the Geneva conference (dumping, statistical methods, etc.), and partly as regards other matters (bills of exchange). It is anxious that the attention of the states members of the league should be drawn in a special manner to the recommendations in regard to commercial arbitration and the stabilization of customs tariffs. VI. The assembly, having taken note of the decisions of the general labor conference of 1921 calling for an inquiry into the national and international aspects of the unemployment crisis and the means of combating it and requesting the international labor office to call into cooperation the economic and financial section of the League of Nations for the solution of the financial and economic questions raised by the inquiry:

Requests the economic and financial organization to arrange the scope and method of such collaboration at an early date and to bring to the inquiry conducted by the international labor office any information which it has in its possession.

VII. The assembly invites the states members of the League of Nations to assist in the work of the economic and financial committees by furnishing as fully and as speedily as possible the information for which the committees may ask, notably especially in connection with its various publications and its investigations in regard to the equitable treatment of commerce.

VIII. The assembly notes that the council proposes to maintain for the present the economic and financial organization under its existing provisional form in order to pursue the work which 1t has already undertaken subject to such changes in the composition of the two committees as the council may decide.

Resolutions carried.

DEPORTATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN NEAR EAST

Mr. Fielding, Canada, chairman and reporter, fifth committee, took the platform and presented the committee's report on the deportation of women and children in the Near East.

Mr. Frangulis, Greece, said that the first assembly had decided to appoint a commission of inquiry on this subject, and the second assembly to appoint a commissioner of the league at Constantinople to handle the matter; that Doctor Kennedy had made an impressive statement before the fifth committee as to the work of the commission of inquiry during the past year; that victims of deportations and massacres had not decreased with time; that added thousands of women and children were needful of assistance. He stated that Miss Jeppe, another member of the commission of inquiry, had estimated that at least 30,000 Armenian women and children were in the hands of Mussulmans in districts surrounding Aleppo, and that 5,000 to 6,000 were captives in the Aleppo district; that according to figures from American sources 30,000 deportees had passed through Sivas, 5,000 afterwards dying on the way, 5,000 escaping, and 20,000 reaching Kharput; that of this last number 18,000 were Ottoman Greeks, while 2,000 were Armenians.

He informed the assembly further that the second assembly had decided that the League of Nations, France, Great Britain, and Italy should request their high commissioners to form a committee to assist the commissioner of the League of Nations by all possible means; that a mixed administration was - formed to deal with the restitution of women and children; that it was also decided by the second assembly to encourage charitable work in the areas under consideration, such as was being carried on by Catholic and other institutions which the speaker said had long been the outposts of civilization in the East, spreading blessings of faith and charity, and such as was also being carried on by the organizations founded by the United States, particularly the American Near East Relief, by the Belgian committee, and many other worthy institutions. He advised the assembly that Doctor Kennedy in his report to the fifth committee had spoken of the work of Miss Caris Mills, recently appointed lady director of the" Neutral House," saying that I Miss Mills had formerly been in the service of the American Near East Relief and bad helped to repatriate more than 12,000 Armenian orphans.

The speaker asserted that his advices were to the effect that conditions bad grown worse in the past two years, Greek and Armenian deportees being in a situation worse than slavery.

He quoted from the report of the Near East Relief organization and the conclusions of Dr. Mark H. Ward, a member of that organization, and concluded as follows:

The unquestionably true account which you have just heard w111 show you that neither the purity of the young girl, nor the honor of the woman, nor the innocence of the child, are respected; all are outraged, freely, deliberately and with impunity. All the creative forces, all the active power of life, all which goes to make up the joy of living and the desire to have lived are destroyed; the very sources of happiness and existence are dried up. And this silent tragedy is being enacted on the borders of two civilizations. From time to time and with a regularity which is often surprising. Europe witnesses this holocaust of pain and suffering which is like some sinister rite. Alas! the blood which is flowing out there is too far away from us and the flames of this conflagration too distant for us to see.

In Europe to-day can our League of Nations, the last hope of oppressed peoples, the final court of appeal of organized public opinion throughout the civilized world remain dumb? It can not do otherwise than deprecate the crime and ask that the authors of these foul deeds shall be sought out. In the face of the dislocation of family life, in face of the deportation of more than 60,000 women and children and of 600,000 refugees should not the unanimous reprobation of civilized humanity here represented rise up like a cry from the people to demand that light shall be thrown upon these events, to insist that responsibility shall be established and justice meted out?

This conception of the duty of the nations personified by our league which, in the preamble a! the document that brought us into being, sets out that our aim shall be the maintenance of justice-this conception is the triumph of the outraged conscience of mankind. Our league has already given effective proof of the fact that it is capable of reaching out a helping hand to sufferers, but over the portals of the league are inscribed not only the words, "charity, humanity, and help," but also the words, " responsibility, punishment, and justice."

As early as January 13, 1922, the council of the League of Nations voted the following resolution:

"The council of the League of Nations, having heard with great concern the various reports of excesses alleged to have been committed both by Turkish and non-Turkish inhabitants in Turkish and Greek territories, instructs the commissioner of the league at Constantinople to investigate any report of atrocities committed in these territories in the future and to report to the council thereon."

You w111 perceive then, gentlemen, that neither the steps proposed nor the problem itself are new, but they are corollaries of the object and mission of your committee of inquiry which was set up as a result of the deportation of women and children in Turkey and in the neighboring countries. The government, in whose territory the inquiry should be carried out, has already notified the league of a similar request. No more remains to be done than to respond to a unanimous desire and proceed to carry on this inquiry wherever such crimes are being committed. This, gentlemen, is the wish I desire to express. Its object is to establish the facts, to seek out the responsible authors of these crimes and to reveal the truth which in this case means justice. Lord Cecil inquired if the Greek delegate, Mr. Franjales, had made any definite proposal.

The president replied that no formal proposal had been submitted to him; that if no one wished to speak he would close the discussion. Discussion closed. Resolutions of fifth committee adopted, as follows:

1. The assembly approves the conclusions of the report presented by Doctor Kennedy, chairman of the commission of inquiry on deported women and children, and is of the opinion that the League of Nations should continue its work in this direction. 2. The assembly requests the council to urge the governments responsible for any territories either under the mandate or under allied control where members of the commission for the reclamation of women and children are working to instruct their officials in those territories to give strong support and ass i stance to the commission and its members.

3. A further sum of £1 , 500 shall be allocated to the funds of the commission in order that the valuable work at present being undertaken by the commission in Aleppo may be continued.

HEALTH ORGANIZATION; FOURTH COMMITTEE'S DECISION

Mr. Rivas-Vicuna, Chile, reporter for fourth committee, announced its decision to fix the credit for the epidemic commission of the League of Nations at 50,000 francs, and stated that this figure should be inserted 1n the third resolution on the health organization passed by the assembly on September 15, 1922.

Twenty-first meeting, Thursday, September 28, 1922, 4.30 p. m.

ARMENIAN AND GREEK REFUGEES

Mr. Fielding, Canada, announced the readiness of his Government to contribute £5,000 for relief of Armenian, Greek, and other refugees from Smyrna and vicinity.

The president announced the gift of £1,000 by the Danish Government for the same purpose.

INTELLECTUAL COOPERATION; REPORT BY SECOND COMMITTEE

Mr. Chod.zko, Poland, chairman; Mr. de Jouvenel, France, reporter, second committee, appeared on the platform, the latter submitting the committee's report on intellectual cooperation.

Mr. de . Jouvenel told of the difficulties which bad confronted the committee on intellectual cooperation, pointing out that a gulf had been opened by the war between the cultural systems of the various nations which more civilized tendencies were endeavoring to bridge; that this disaster had been added to the unfortunate development of a war of the classes; that the League of Nations, having instituted the international labor office and representing human thought as a whole, could not fail to grasp the importance of the organization of intellectual work; that the Federation of French Intellectual Workers, comprising 200,000 members, bad been the first to turn to the league; that the federation had been created to defend the individual rights of members, and had later tried to show that manual workers and capitalists depended equally on the power of the spirit.

The speaker pointed out further that the committee on intellectual cooperation bad begun by making an inventory of the intellectual patrimony of mankind; that it bad accordingly created subcommittees to study unification of regulations for arcbreological questions, internationalization of methods of bibliography, the question of an international index and catalogue, and so forth, and had later made a list of international institutions occupied in intellectual work.

He advised the assembly that it was invited to approve these plans, consisting ( 1) of protecting the intellectual patrimony of mankind, (2) of the development of the patrimony, (3) of improving the material situation of intellectual workers and the methods of collaboration in intellectual work; that the committee on intellectual cooperation also proposed to study the question of intellectual property and the steps needed to enable intellectual workers to maintain their position between manual workers and capitalists with a view to a more scientific organization of labor.

Prof. Gilbert Murray, South Africa, observed that two disasters bad assailed the intellectual life of Europe-the economic disaster, which was starving it; and the Great War, which had interrupted it-that the object of the committee on intellectual cooperation was to fight these evils, and its work was vital to the existence of the league. He explained that the fourth committee had reduced the expense allowance of the committee from 180,000 francs to 50,000; that this was rather severe, but that in one respect the fourth committee was probably justified; that the work of the intellectual committee could not at the moment make any decided progress; that the currents of intellectual life in Europe did not run together; that closer cooperation between universities had been suggested, but a conference would not be useful which excluded German universities; that reluctance to cooperate on both sides had to be admitted.