A War Averted The settlement of the Colombia-Peru dispute provides
one small gleam of encouragement in a depressing world. The credit is due jointly to the League of Nations and to the late Foreign Minister of Brazil, Senhor Mello Franco, who formerly sat on the League Council himself. The League got the fighting stopped in the first instance and played an indispensable part in appointing a small com- mission to take charge of the disputed territory for a period of a year till final agreements between the two countries were reached. The year expired in the middle of this month, and it was only at the eleventh hour that, thanks to the efforts of Senhor Mello Franco as independent con- ciliator, an accord was finally reached. The importance of the affair lies in the demonstration of the power of the League of Nations to achieve something worth achieving in a continent as far away as South America, and in the example provided of the success of the very valuable expedient of temporary occupation and administration of disputed territory by League Commissioners. Occasions May well arise in the future where the adoption of a similar plan will ease more dangerous situations than that at Leticia.
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