The League of Nations
Varied Tasks in Many Fields
FIGHTING THE DRUG TRAFFIC.
At the recent meeting of the Op Advisory- Committee of
the League of Nations two very interesting schemes for the control of manufactured narcotic drugs were put forward from different quarters. At a time when effective control of the production of opium is for the moment practically impos- sible (owing to the fact that of the chief producing countries China is in a state of political and administrative chaos, Turkey is not a member of the League at all, and Persia is only prepared to begin reduction in poppy growing three years hence), it becomes a matter of vital importance to apply the most stringent control possible at the other end of the scale, namely, to the manufacture of the drugs in their final form. This is a less formidable task than might be imagined, for the number of factories in the world producing these drugs is less than thirty. So far as this country and the United States are concerned, the measures of control exercised leave nothing to be desired. In Great Britain only two firms are licensed for morphia and heroin, one licence having been can- celled by the Home Office not long since for sufficient reasons. The same, however, cannot be said of certain other countries, and at a special meeting of the Opium Advisory Committee called at the instance of its Italian member, Signor Cavazzoni, to consider specifically the problem of more effective control of manufacturers, Colonel Arthur Woods, a former Commissioner of Police of New York, proposed the nationalization of all factories manufacturing narcotic drugs. The German member of the Committee, Dr. Anselmino, then made a still more interesting proposal for the internationalization of manufac- ture by the formation of an international Trust which should acquire a controlling interest in all the factories involved and with the management of which the League itself should be closely associated. Both these schemes clearly need much more detailed examination and will certainly receive it, for the authors of both have been asked to elaborate their pro- posals and bring them again before the Committee.
THE VILNA PROBLEM AGAIN.
At the request of the Lithuanian Government the question of relations between Poland and Lithuania has been placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the League of Nations Council, which opens on December 5th. The actual raison d'etre of the Lithuanian appeal, which is made under Article • XI. of the Covenant (under which any State has the " friendly right " to call the attention of the League Council to any circumstance whatever which threatens to disturb inter- national peace or the good understanding between nations upon which peace depends), is the treatment accorded to Lithuanian schools in the districts of Vilna and Grodno. It seems inevitable that the Council will find itself for better or worse involved in the whole unhappy story of Polish-Lithua- nian relations, which have remained abnormal ever since the seizure of Vilna by the Polish General Zeligowsky in October, 1920. Zeligowsky was disavowed by the Polish Government, but he remained in possession of Vilna, and the town was finally assigned to Poland when the Conference of Ambassa- dors laid down the eastern frontier of Poland in 1923. Since then Lithuania has insisted on assuming that a state of war exists between the two countries. In consequence neither has any diplomatic representlition in the other, and there is, therefore, no means of discussing disputed questions directly. The League spent years in endeavouring to • compose the differences between the two, but neither Poland nor Lithuania would accept the solution proposed by the Council, and since the League has in such a case no power to impose solutions the matter necessarily dropped. Whether the moment is auspicious for a second attempt remains to be seen. The signs cannot be said to be propitious, and though the Council must of course hear the Lithuanian case, it is not very clear what action can be taken. It must be observed that while the method of the Polish seizure of Vilna was clearly indefensible, that does not mean that the town is necessarily Lithuanian. No impartial ruling on that subject has ever been given. Frontiers had not been fixed in that region when the town was taken by the Poles.
SUPERVISING MANDATES.
The Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations which opened at Geneva on Monday is notable for the fact that a German member of the Conunittee, Dr. Kastl, is taking part in its work for the first time. There has been considerable discussion as to the desirability of placing a German on the Commission, the view being taken in some quarters that this was only the first step towards a German demand for a mandate of her own. It is at least as tenable an assumption that a concession on this point will go some way towards satisfying that section of German opinion which has been demanding some recognition, at any rate, of the fact that Germany was once a great colonial power. Of the questions under examination by the Commission, the most important are Iraq and Samoa, the latter by reason of the complaints that have been directed against the administration by the Governor, who is appointed by New Zealand, as mandatory power. Iraq, which is not, technically speaking, a mandate area since an Anglo-Iraq treaty was substituted for the usual formal mandate, is being considered just at a moment when King Feisal and his Prime Minister are discussing in London the question of Iraq's entry into the League as an independent State, a development which would, of course, put an end completely to any relation between that country and the Mandates Commission. It may be noted in that connexion that in order to qualify for entry to the League, Iraq would have to satisfy the Assembly that she was fully self-governing. reasonably capable of defending herself, and in possession of settled frontiers.
THE EIGHT HOURS DAY.
A return compiled by the International Labour Office on the effects of the adoption of the eight hours day in France is interesting for two reasons. It shows, in the first place, that the effect of a reduction from what was in many cases a ten hours day to an .eight hours has been an actual increase in production, after a temporary fall due to initial dislocations, this satisfactory result being the outcome of better induStrial organization, to which the employers have been stimulated by the reduction in hours. It is pertinent, in the second place, to recall that though France has adopted her own internal eight hours law, she has only ratified the Washington Hours Convention conditionally on similar action being taken by Great Britain and Germany. There is therefore no force in the criticism that the French law does not conform in all respects to the Convention, since France is under no obligation to conform till her ratification becomes definitive. When that happens an arrangement which now rests on a mere domestic law will become part of an international obligation.
THE LEAGUE'S NEW HOME.
A special committee appointed by the League Assembly, Sir Edward Hilton Young being its British member, will meet at Geneva early in November to take definite action regarding the construction of the new Assembly Hall and Secretariat buildings, to which must now be added the League research library, for which funds are being given by Mr. J. D. Rocke- feller, jun. Everyone who has ever seen the Assembly in session has been profoundly impressed—or rather depressed—by the contrast between the dignity and importance of the gathering itself and the drab unworthiness of the hall in which its sessions are temporarily held. The last Assembly raised the allocation for the new buildings to 19,500,000 Swiss francs (less than 'S,800,000), and it now rests with the special committee to appoint an architect and approve his final plans. A competition among the architects of all States members of the League produced 377 entrants, and of these nine were selected (none of them British) by a jury of architects, as standing in a first class by themselves. Out of these one will be finally chosen by the lay committee and the commission for the work allotted to him. The lakeside site already acquired, a little further out of Geneva than the present Secretariat buildings, it everything that could be desired. The adoption of this building 'scheme of course anchors the League very firmly -to Geneva. . .
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