Dec. 14.
No graver disservice can be done to hunsanity at this moment than by following the hetero-generous crowd of wiseacres who refes to see in the League of tations' handling of the Manchurian issue a matter for derision and depreciation. By' the action of one of its members. and, perhaps, by reason of its own precipitate endowment of China with the full trappings of solid nationhood—a mistake made in quite respectable company—the League was faced with a problem involving its very existence. It could not possibly pretend to possess the traditions Of a long-established institution. Its Secretariat displayed inexperience at more than one stage. It was hampered curious tendencies in the two countries chiefly concerned. Statements made by the representatives of China and Japan at Geneva or Paris were often awkwardly counterbalanced by apparently official pronouncements emanating from Nanking and. Tokyo. An approach to agreement was jeopardised more than once by some disconcerting development, in Manchuria or in either of the two contending! countries, Facile critics who affect to believe that long residence, irrespective of mental equipment, makes the perfect expert on Far Eastern affairs, have been joyously exploiting the idea of the League's childlike ignorance of Chinese psychology, Japanese mentality and Manchurian geography. They are welcome te that elephantine form of amusement. They, cannot be expected to appreciate the fact that the League, in the process of informing itself, can command exhaustive sources of accurate knowledge, brains in applying it and statesmanship in turning it to account.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.