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VII. THE LEAGUE OF NATlONS—(Continued.) The organization, two of the chief objects and the origin of the League of Nations Covenant as drafted in Paris were analyzed in this column last week. This week we will take up the means which it provides to maintain peace and promote international co-operation, and what has already been accomplished along those lines. In discussions of such burning issues as the League has become, it may be useful to remind the new voter that there are two distinct stages through which everyone must go in relation to any proposition: First, knowledge of it, and then, approval or disapproval, opinion about it. To rush too quickly through the first stage is the usual mistake people make', and it is one that the new voter should guard against particularly. In order to make up her mind about the Covenant of the League, she should first read it. The opportunity to do this was given in the October 9 issue of this paper. She should next try to find out what the framers of the Covenant tried to do and how far they accomplished their purpose. This is what this column is now trying to explain. It is saying in as simple language as possible what the Covenant is according to the expressed opinion of its makers. That the Democratic or Republican parties or parti sans concur or dissent with any particular statement is of no importance for the purpose of this discussion, which is simply to supply information to the new voter on the chief issue of the campaign. She is perfectly capable of forming her own opinion about it and of acting accordingly, first given this knowledge. To Promote International Co-operation. Besides destroying the motive for war by abolishing attacks upon weaker nations and backward peoples, as the framers planned in Articles 10-22, which also destroyed the chief motive for piling up armaments, they provided legal methods for settling the differences that arise between States, and established increased means of friendly intercourse. Nations subscribing to the League promise to submit their disputes either to arbitration or to inquiry by the Council of the League, and not to go to war until three months after the decision of the arbitrators of the Council. Article 14 provides for an international court, a continuation of the Hague Tribunal. It was under the authorization of this article that the committee of distinguished international lawyers, among whom were Mr. Elihu Root—not by virtue of right, as we had not joined the League, but through the courtesy of the other members—met during the summer. The plans for this court, completed after three months’ labor, are one of the things already accomplished by the League. The Penalty for Violation. A nation who goes to war in spite of its pledges is declared to be auto matically at war with all the other members of the League. This is con sidered to be a deterrent that most nations will regard. It is very gen erally conceded that had Germanyy known positively that England would come into the war against her, not to name all the others who did, she would have foregone her “fresh and joyous” enterprise against France. The other nations will first boycott the offending nation, stop business relations with her, and then, if necessary, the Council will recommend what armed force shall be used against it. At the Paris Conference it was always understood that the immediate neighbors would first be called upon to settle the matter, as, for instance, we would be advised by the MARY LAND SUFFRAGE NEWS INSTRUCTIONS TO THE NEW VOTER By Eva O. Wilson. Mention the Maryland Suffrage News When Patronizing Our Advertisers. Council to bring Mexico to terms if it joined the League and in violation of its pledges went to war. So people geographically remote would not be involved unless the conflict assumed world-wide proportions, in which case it would be impossible to remain outside, as we saw in the late war. Another cause for war has been treaties that are out of date and irksome to the parties to them, and the Covenant provides that the Assem bly may from time to time advise the reconsideration of them. It is fur ther provided that all treaties inconsistent with the Covenant are void. This disposes of the great difficulty encountered at the peace conference— treaties among our allies arranging settlements in advance of their con sideration there. In connection with the force to be used to uphold the Covenant, the following quotation from one of the makers of it is illuminating: “Armed force is in the background of the program, but it is in the background, and if the moral force of the world will not suffice, the physical force shall. But that is the last resort, because this is intended as a constitution of peace, not as a league of war.” ♦ A Going Concern. Forty-one nations of the world have subscribed to the Covenant, four others have applied to come in, and the Central Empires are seeking ad mission. The Secretariat is busy making the necessary preliminary survey and setting up its machinery. Four of the permanent committees have been set up —that on armament, which is already formulating the plan by which the world will reduce their armament and thus be freed from the terrible burden of taxation it imposes; that on international health, which has done valuable work in fighting the typhus in Poland and Central Eu rops and is making far-reaching plans; that on transit, waterways and communication, which is arranging for outlets to the sea and across boun daries of inland nations, and that of international justice, which met last summer, as we have noted, and submitted a complete plan for an inter national court. The Labor Bureau has been established, following the meeting of the Labor Conference in Washington last October, and a conference was held in Geneva last June in regard to labor laws for seamen and ships. A financial conference is now being held in Brussels under the auspices of the League. The Secretariat, which is sitting in London, last week began the publi cation of treaties between the member nations of the League, as provided for under Article 18. Ten were made public, and the rest of the 26 already registered will be published shortly. The first meeting of the Council was held on the day prohibition went into effect in the United States, January 16. The Assembly will meet next month. The government of the Sarre, as provided for in the Versailles Treaty, and that of Danzic are being run under the Council, and it has repatriated thousands of Russian prisoners. It has brought about a peace settlement between Poland and Lithuania, which went into effect this week (October 18), and kept Sweden and Finland from going to war over the Aland Islands. This much it has done under the hampering conditions existing in Europe and the discouragement of our defection. The League is not a super-government, as a super-government would have lawmaking powers, and an army and navy to enforce its decree. But it is an organ of inter national co-operation capable of growth and great usefulness. No one who helped make the Covenant claimed verbal inspiration for it, or even perfect machinery. But these are not important. “If you try to enforce peace by mechanical means,” said Lord Robert Cevil, who can claim as much credit for the existence of the League as anyone, “you will fail. But if the public opinion is back of the League of Nations it will suc ceed, even with imperfect machinery.” 235