The League of Nations
The Federation of League of Nations Societies
THIS organization, with its somewhat awkward name, has now been in existence for nine years, and the recent meeting of its Assembly at The Hague is the twelfth which has been held, besides other meetings of its representative council and of the special committees. The original object of the Federa- tion was to unite the various League of Nations societies, co-ordinate their work and enable them to carry on an active propaganda for the League in their respective countries. This propaganda was to take the form of making the League's activities known to the public, explaining its methods of work and showing how it can be utilized. But in practice the various congresses of the Federation have developed into a sort of imitation or rival of the real League of Nations, which the members of the Federation very often criticize for its alleged inactivity, trying to make out that the Federation represents public opinion, whereas the Geneva League repre- sents mere Governments. This claim to " voice the great heart of the people " egnnot be altogether justified in view of the composition of the Federation.
COMPOSITION OF THE FEDERATION.
To this twelfth meeting of the Federation at The Hague, 27 countries sent delegates as compared with the 55 or 56 who are represented at Geneva. The societies, moreover, vary very considerably in character and importance. The British League of Nations Union is a large and highly organized association with a membership of over 600,000, whereas in most other countries the societies are small bodies with a membership of a few hundreds or a few score. In some cases they consist of little more than a president and a secretary. Sonic of the societies in the Federation, again, only speak for a particular racial, linguistic or religious minority, and have been formed with no other object than that of asserting and defending the claims of that minority ; their members take not the slightest interest in any of the other far more important League of Nations questions. Minority questions, indeed, to a very large extent, monopolize the activities of the Federation ; " Phypertrophie des minorites " it has been rightly called, and although only those minority societies which are federated with majority societies in their respective countries are admitted to the Federation, in practice every minority can manage to be represented.
THE MINORITIES.
At least one country, viz., Palestine, is represented ex- clusively by a minority society, that of the Jews, and its mem- bers appear as the defenders not so much of the Palestine Jews as of the Jews of other countries wherein the race is, or asserts itself to be, subject to unfair discrimination. In some cases majority societies of one country take up the cudgels for minorities in other countries ; thus the German and Austrian societies of Germany and Austria and the Yugoslav societies of Yugoslavia come forth as the defenders of the C-ermao and Slav minorities in Italy, and the Hungarian society of Hun- gary does the same for the Magyar minorities in Yugoslavia, Rumania and Czechoslovakia, although those minorities are directly represented on the Federation. This, incidentally, goes counter to the established practice of the League, where complaints concerning minorities cannot be heard unless they proceed from the minorities themselves or from some Govern- ment having no interest in the question. Moreover, whereas the League only deals with such minority problems as come within the competence of the minority treaties, at the Federation the situation of minorities in countries not bound by such treaties is constantly discussed. An astound- ing proposal has been debated at the Federation for a " Code of Procedure for Minorities," and although it would make the hair of any serious student of public law stand up on end, it was voted by a small majority to be presented to the League of Nations as the expression of the public opinion of the world on the subject. Although the League of Nations and, consequently, the Federation are supposed to .aspire to conciliate international disputes, the debates on minority problems tend, on the contrary, to accentuate them and embitter relations between different peoples, especially when certain delegates who have not the remotest notion of inter- national affairs insist on " butting in " and attempting to lay down the law for others.
DELEGATES WHO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER.
But the activities of the Federation have much good in them also. Every year a number of resolutions are voted and sent in to the League at Geneva, where no doubt some oi them are read by a few of the officials of the Secretariat, and there the matter ends. It is doubtful if any of these recoil'. mendations have in any material degree influenced the activi- ties of the League or in general the course of international relations. It is, on the whole, in the field of education that the Federation has achieved its most satisfactory results. What is even more important has been its success in bringing together a number of people from different countries and of widely different mentalities to discuss their respective problems as a rule in a friendly spirit, thereby acquiring some knowledge of each other's points of view. Moreover, as these meetings are held in different countries the delegates are given an oppor- tunity of visiting various parts of Europe and seeing them in the pleasantest and most favourable circumstances. At each meeting they thus gain an impression of some particular country and people with whom they had never previously, perhaps, been in contact, and come away with the best possible impression of them. Every country where these meetings are held lays itself out to entertain its guests and show them all its most interesting and beautiful features. I must add that nowhere has the Federation been so charmingly received as in Holland. Everyone seems to have made a point of extend. ing to the delegates the most cordial hospitality in every form, and it would indeed be difficult for anyone who has attended the recent assembly of the Federation at The Hague to come away with anything but the most sympathetic and friendly feelings towards this most attractive, intelligent and cultivated people and their delightful country. This is certainly one very useful result from the point of view of the League spirit.
GENEVA LEADERS WANTED.
There is another field in which the Federation might use- fully contribute to League activities. If some statesman who had played an important part in one of the major problems at Geneva in the course of the past year were to be invited to attend the meetings of the Federation and set forth the course of the debates and the results obtained, and answer any questions which he might be asked, the Federation delegates would return home with more precise notions of the particular subject and be able to enlighten the other members of their societies with knowledge obtained at first hand from one of the chief actors at Geneva. A resolution to this effect was, in- deed, voted by the Federation, but it has not yet been acted upon. It is, however, by no means too late, and action to this effect will, let us hope, be taken at some subsequent meeting. —I am, Sir, &c.,
YOUR CORRESPONDENT AT THE HAGUE.
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