The question at Toru dale with tio reompbntion ofthe Coane hat ra sup, one renee the othe" more: fundamental The former 90 coplonted moment that it must be unravelled Fetore there iepartae espe seat than a number of other nations, all of whom started at once to make their demands. And so the months drifted by and Germany was not admitted, with Brazil shouldering the major blame for what happened in March, and with Spain branded as the black sheep for the recent rumblings that threatened to cause trouble. In reality Poland is largely whole trouble, but her diplomacy, possibly steered from elsewhere, has been clever enough to dodge and avoid the brunt of the criticism, "Face Pidgin"
In the lest analysis, why all this sudden rush for seats in the Council?
If the Covenant of the League, with all the democratic principles, is, anything more than a scrap of paper, the Assembly is the supreme body, anid the Council is nothing more nor less than a small executive group, charged with carrying into effect the will of the larger sovereign body. Any question of fairness or unfairness in representation on the Council is based on sheer ignorance, and for two reasons.
In the first place, there is no. question of "balance of power" on the Council, for all of its important decisions have to be unanimous, ard any great power can thus always: bo sure of an effective voice, Scconly, ff a dispute arises involving a country not a member of the Coun-such as Poland, that country is invited to send a representative to the Council table, so that its interests will always be defended sin any dispute in which it is directly concerned. For these reasons, itis apparent that the precipitate rush for permanent seats on the Council which has become the diplonva vogue here in Geneva, is simply game of international prestige, which incidentally implies a blo fat the dignity of the League sembly.
The Non-Permanent Seats Tt is this Jast point which brings us back to the discussion in this morning's Assembly—meeting, in which Germany's election became the occasion for a dispute which augurs ill for the future of the League Before passing: to the fundamental issue at stake, the immediate clash of interests on' the floor of the meeting mus disentangled and be analysed.
Lord Robert Cecil had proposed, some time ago, a scheme for satisfying the demarels of certain nations enlarging the number of non-permanent seats on the Council. The French delegation was intent, always, upon securing for Poland a seat in the Council simultaneously with that granted to Germany. Tt therefore insisted on binding up the enlargement of the Council inseparably with Germany's entry, and it actually succeeded in having the two resolutions joined together aa one, although any logical connexion between the two was hard indeed to cover. The resolution read: "The Assembly approves the proposals formulated by the Council in regard to, (a) the nomination of Germany as a permanent. member of the Council, and (b) the increase nine of the number of non-permanent seats on the Coune Tas orcad iialio, ax ves low ithe ovtargwth of the one itachs wien "ormeaea ware into the League was blocked by Bros eho held nee faction Inher excessive detead Cpermnvent sat onthe Cnine te important to have thee Demat one a ends "badly Ber fining the Langue without Securaner at she eld have tenent neat onthe Conall ants Spice hie ww sao ul hae had any serious hesitation about granting. The situation became involved, however, when Poland, inspired and supported by France's desir to "offset" Germany's seat on the Council, demand al a permanent seat for herself on that body. "And thst was the move that opened the flood gate! For of course Polamf kad no more claim on such a Tammany at Geneva happens that certain of the League have fundamental and traditional objections to any such increase in the size of the When the number of nonpermanent scats was raised, in 1922, from four to six, some weeks of discussion and. deliberation preceded the Assembly's dee Tt was natural to assume that crease would be made without" a similar deliberation, But no! exigencies of a bargaining and oon-promising diplomacy had decreed otherwise, and the result was the adoption of such steam-roller methods as would have delighted the soul of the most hardened Tamy."> many" boss.
OF course there were explosions from certain. uninitiated merabges of the Assembly, who did not enioy. letting the Council ride rough shod
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.