1930 - Annual Convention Report

              S I X T E E N T H A N N U A L C O N V E N T I ON 57
Before the first meeting of the Assembly during the same year, forty- five
Nations had become members of the League of Nations; there are fifty- four
at the present time; an unquestionable testimony to the place of importance
that the League has achieved in the minds of the world's statesmen. Yet it
was not a creation of the moment. It had its root in the solid experience of
the past and its growth during the decade of its existence has been by means
of deliberate consideration rather than through spectacular action.
The machinery of the League appears somewhat complicated to the aver­age
mind. The three authorative agencies are the Assembly, the Council
and the Permanent Court of International Justice, popularly known as the
W o r l d Court. The Secretariat and the long list of committees and associated
expert commissions are subordinate. The Assembly is composed of repre­sentatives
of every country that is a member of the League. It meets annually
on the first Monday in September, in Geneva, and without question is the
most representative body that the world has yet seen. Every member, great
or small, is on a footing of equality. Each country may send as many as
three representatives to sit in the Assembly but has only one vote. Being
the general body of the League, the Assembly may deal at its meetings with
any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace
of the world. It has also special functions, such as the election of new mem­bers,
the passing of the budget; it elects the majority of the Council and its
consent is necessary for any alteration of the constitution of the council.
The Council has five permanent members. Great Britain, France, Italy,
Japan and Germany, representing the Great Powers in the League, and nine
minor powers, elected three each year by the Assembly. The Council meets
four times a year and may be called together whenever a crisis demands it.
Being small it can meet on short notice and may reach a decision quickly;
because its decisions are backed by the great powers they carry great weight
and it is well suited to act as the executive organ of the Assembly.
The World Court is a court of eleven judges and four deputies, elected
every nine years, by the Assembly and the Council. The Court sits regularly
on June 15th, but may be called at any time for an extraordinary session. A l l
disputes are submitted to this court, and the many decisions handed down
have brought no question of justice.
The Secretariat collects information and studies the problems that come
before the Assembly and the Council. Associated with it are a number of
commissions and committees to supervise the many growing activities of the
League.
Since 1920 four main attempts have been made to strengthen the League,
each of which has contributed greatly to its v i t a l i t y . The first was the so-called
Protocol which developed at the Assembly meeting in 1924. Its main
provisions were that the signatory nations should pledge themselves to main­tain
the existing frontiers of Europe and to come to the assistance of any
state whose integrity was threatened. The majority of European states hailed
the project with enthusiasm. Great Britain, feeling that it attempted too
much, was definitely opposed to it, and on the rock of the British attitude
the whole scheme split.
The next year came Locarno— a modified version of the Protocol— to which
Great Britain not only had no objection but which she warmly favored. Some
statesmen regard the signing of the Locarno Pnct as one of the great moments
in the world history. Certain it is that when the Foreign Secretaries of Eng­land,
France and Germany met for the first time in frankness and friendliness
a new viewooint developed; and the subsequent admission of Germany to the
League of Nations was an indication that war- time hates were to be buried
forever.