Correspondence
League News
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—There are enthusiastic supporters of the League of Nations who feel that no reference should be made to it in any but reverent tones, and that if they put enough white- wash on this great international structure they will do away with its flaws and weaknesses. Others, no less anxious for the League to succeed, do not hesitate to criticize, and it is interesting to note that even among these critics there is a general admission that the Sixty-Second Session of the League of Nations Council has been far more important and far more successful than they had anticipated.
Experts in Europe and the United States agree that the present world slump is due partly to the scarcity of gold and to other technical causes, but partly to psychological factors. Ever since the Hitler success at the German elections last September people have wandered around with long faces and predictions of war, and France and the United States are not going to invest their hoarded gold abroad again in countries which may at any moment be involved in fresh hostilities. Mr. Arthur Henderson, as President of the Council, preached a useful little sermon on the value of greater international confidence when the Report of the Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament Conference was adopted by the Council. And the twenty-two Foreign Ministers at the meeting of the Commission of Enquiry for European Union were so emphatic in declaring that there was no danger of another European war that even Wall Street can scarcely remain deaf to them.
But deeds are still more important than words and the Council managed to give useful political evidence that the obstacles to war are already very considerable indeed. The maltreatment of the German Minority in Polish Upper Silesia during the Polish general elections had been made the excuse for such a polemic between the two countries con- cerned that compromise seemed almost impossible, especially as so many German newspapers were thirsting for the blood, not of Poland and the League, but, through them, of an unpopular Foreign Minister, Dr. Curtius. There had even been, it will be remembered, rumours to the effect that Germany might withdraw from the League altogether. There was, in other words, very little warmth in the famous atmosphere of Geneva when the delegates drove along the Quai du Mont Blanc to the Secretariat.
And what happened when the Council Session began ? Dr. Curtius made an attack on Polish electioneering methods which was strong enough in tone to satisfy all those Germans whose indignation was more genuine than political, and yet not strong enough to make a moderate reply by M. Zaleski impossible. The German Nationalists, and notably Herr Treviranus, have undoubtedly made many of their com- patriots forget that the protection of minorities is not best assured by using them as a stick with which to beat the Government whose loyal citizens they are supposed to be. But fortunately the Deutscher Volksbund, the Minority's
organization in Polish Upper Silesia, is much more moderate
than its protagonists in Germany, and after many hours of acrid discussion the Council agreed on a resolution which meets almost all the Volksbund's demands. It is left to the Polish Government to carry out an enquiry into the election abuses, but a very detailed report as to the results of this enquiry will be expected by the League Council at its next Session in May. There were references to the Polish Governor of the Province and to the " Polish Insurgents," a Nationalist organization there, which were almost brutally outspoken. Poland has some pretensions to be considered as a Great Power and, much more important still, she is always sure of the support of a yet greater Great Power, France. That the Council, in these circumstances, should have been able to agree upon a resolution which has hardly been exceeded for frankness since the resolution of October, 1925, which compelled Greece to withdraw her troops from Bulgarian territory, is a very remarkable achievement. It should do much to discourage any other politician in Europe who might otherwise have felt tempted to risk defiance of the League. The only danger is that the German Nationalists may be encouraged in the belief that they have only to rattle their sabres loud enough to get everything they want. Should they so misunderstand the League's treatment of this Minorities question, the Council would doubtless have to speak to them with the same frankness as it used in the case of Poland.
Indeed, such frankness has already been shown—and has been generally approved—by M. Briand in reproaching Dr. Curtius for his comments on the Disarmament Con- vention. In a year's time the first World Conference for the Reduction of Armaments is to meet, and it must base its discussions upon the Draft Convention drawn up by the Preparatory Commission after five years of strenuous labour. Dr. Curtius, speaking rather for the German Nationalists than for himself, referred to that Convention as though it were of no value at all. Most of us feel that it is a disappointing document, but since it is all we have we must make the best of it. If the Germans want their neighbours to reduce their armaments they will be well- advised to encourage everyone to study the Draft Convention with care and not to allow politics and their resentment against the Versailles Treaty to endanger the success of the most important conference since that Treaty was drawn up.
Since one feels the Council's treatment of the Central European problem to have been so important, and since the Spectator has already dealt at some length with the Liberian problem, this article can include only the briefest possible reference to the Negro Republic. During the next few months a Committee of the Council will study the financial and social implications of the Report, and for the moment the most interesting feature is that, whereas in the past there have been, all too often, appeals for capital for the exploitation of negroes in order to obtain raw materials, there is now some prospect of an international loan for the benefit of the negroes of Liberia in order that their country may become worthy of its name. A significant and welcome change in the use of capital !—I am, Sir, &c.,
• YOUR CORRESPONDENT IN GENEVA.
Previous page
