A LEAGUE OF NATIONS FLAG [To the Editor of THE
SPECTATOR.]
Sra,—I was glad to see Janus's note in your issue of Decem- ber 14th, on the desirability of the League of Nations having a flag of its own. The question has been ventilated before, and the objection usually raised is that a League flag might lead to unpleasant incidents : if a League flag were trampled on or burned or subjected to other' indignities, something might occur which had better not have happened.
To me, however, the advantages seem to outweigh the dis- advantages. What are the advantages ? There are at least two. One is that a flag familiarizes people with the institution possessing it ; and who will deny that it would be an advantage for people to become familiarized with the League of Nations ? In the second place, a flag tends to evoke emotional enthusi- asm. As a simple visible sign of a complex mystic State, it
helps to focus, and so to quicken, patriotism. The League of Nations is harder to visualize and more of a mystery than any of its constituent countries. Its need for a flag is correspond- ingly greater than theirs if emotional enthusiasm for the idea of a world-commonwealth of nations is as necessary as similar feelings for the several parts of the one whole. And who will deny that loyalty to the League will help to make it an in- creasingly effective reality—the world's central institution representative of all, or practically all, peoples and capable of prompt action to organize peace and prevent war ?
The World and Stars flag—a blue flag emblazoned in white with Malweide's map of the world bounded by an ellipse of stars, one for each Member of the. League—was designed in 1920 for•the League's use. So far, however, it has only been flown by the International Federation of League of Nations Societies and by its members, including the British League of Nations Union, in many parts of the world. I showed this flag to Dr. NUnsen in 1923. He told me how glad he would have been to have flown it on the German ship he had char- tered for the League's relief work : he had sailed instead under the black, rest and gold of the Weimar republic ! And other improvised flags have been used by the League's agents in Upper Silesia, in Letitia and elsewhere.
It is time that the League had a flag of its own. Why not the World and Stars ?—Yours, &c.,
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