Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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'LQ'-.fT557 fWQN Z 1933 valent attitude of the whole world has been one of distrust to any general dis- armament. The nations say to one ano- ther. Disarmament is a fine idealg you disarm first though, and I'll follow glad- ly. This deadlock having been reached, nothing more is done. The purpose of the league is stated in the preamble: To promote international cooperation and achieve international peace and security by acceptance of obli- gations. not to resort to war, by prescrip- tion of open. just and honorable relations between states, by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of c-onducts among governments. and by maintainance of jus- tice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another. The organization, detailed powers and its principal specific aims are stated in twenty-six articles. The covenant of the League was revised and signed June 28. 1919. It became a part 'of the Treaty of Versailles, January 10, 1920. The League is organized in the same manner as the government of any of the larger countries. There is the secreta- riat. made up of a secretary-general ap- pointed bythe council and approved by a majority of the assembly, and five hun- dred men and women of all nations who keep the records of the League and record all treaties, agreements, etc., which are made between countries. The council is composed of one repre- sentative for each of the five permanent members, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany. and Japan. and nine non-per- manent members chosen every year by the assembly. The assembly has three members from each country belonging to the League. Each country has but one vote. The council and assembly both consider questions of international importance. New states are admitted to the League with the consent, of two-thirds of the as- sembly. Vkiitbdrawal from the League re- quires two years notice and a fulfillment of all obligations. l'AGI'I i Ol'HTlCIGN All questions which arise must be de- cided by unanimous consent. Out of the League there has grown ano- ther organization which, although it gains its power from the League, will do more than anything else to really establish everlasting peace. This body is the World Court. It was organized for the pur- pose of applying judicial procedure to questions of international importance that involve legal rights. Its judiciary con- sists of fifteen judges, each selected for a nine year term, from a list of nominees submitted to the court of arbitration es- tablished by the Hague peace conferences. It meets at the Hague and its method of procedure is very much the same as that of the Supreme Court in the United States. The League has been constantly occu- pied since its inception with settling dis- putes which might otherwise have led to war. All members are bound to submit all questions which tend to cause armed conflict to the League and if the League fails to reach a unanimous decision on the subject the parties concerned are free to act according to their own judgment. The League has operated successfully on all questions up to the Chinese-Japanese affair. This affair is likely to become the acid test for the League of Nations, and upon its decisions now will rest the future of world peace. The League has been blocked in its ef- forts toward disarmament by the refusal of the United States to join the organi- zation. The various administrations which have taken office in this country have tried to bring about disarmament by conferences outside the circles of the Lea- gue. The greatest weakness of the League has been the non-partisanship of the Uni- ted States in its affairs. The second weakness is the lack of power to enforce its decrees. The Japanese situation has pointed out the need of force in keeping the member nations of the League in strict accordance with the laws of the co- venant. The inability of the League to use force in preserving peace must be

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gg ' 1 4, ,QQ-.I - 1 N Lthr ff!! L Y lf Me vt ,sv- ,A cl' r L , 2 ,X 1: 1 illlif l E, o g THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS Ever since man has made war on man the necessity of finding some means for establishing world peace has been recog- nized. The greatest effort that was made in the direction of world peace before the W'OI'ld War was the round table confer- ence. This was made up of members from all the leading countries who met to- gether for the purpose of settling their differences by discussion and arbitration. The Hague Court of International Ar- bitration was estabished in 1907 for the purpose of applying judicial procedure to international relationships. The World War ended for a time all efforts toward peace. At the end of the war the desire for a permanent state of world peace was strongly manifested by every nation that had given its life and blood to the want-on destruction which had been centered in Western Europe. lfresident Wilson expressed the desire of the whole world in his fourteen points presented as a basis for armistice 11ego- tiations. The final paragraph of his pro- position which stated: A general association of nations must be established under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guar- antees of political independence and terri- torial integrity to great and small states alike, led to the establishment of The League of Nations. The League. although it was established upon the plan offered by President. Wilson, did not win the favor of the Uni- ted States. This unusual state of affairs must have had some explanation, because it is not natural that a country built upon principles of freedom, equality, and jus- tice, should reject a plan for bringing about the peace of the world. It was not the majority of people in the United Sta- tes who opposed the League, but a com- paratively small group in the legislative department of the government at Wash- ington. When the covenant of the League was submitted to this body for approval, they refused to accept any part of it that was binding upon the rights of the United States, and then, after all the concessions that could possibly have been made were agreed upon by the other countries, the United States still refused to sign. The people of the United States were never given a chance to vote yes or no on the League and the ruling forces of gov- ernment kept most of the proceedings private. The attitude of the Fnited States to- ward the League was bound to have no small effect upon the other nations. France and England being left with no one to act as an arbitrator between them have gradually become cooler toward one another. The smaller nations have taken advantage of the unreasonable demands of the United States in an attempt to gain their own individual ambitions. The pre- PAGE THIRTEEN

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ze - IQ33 remedied in the same way that the Ar- ticles of Confederation in the United Sta- tes were remedied by the Constitution. The government must be given the power to enforce as well as express' its decrees. The League of Nations has a very defi- nite place in the forward march of civili- zation. It is the result of years of effort toward the peace of the world. It is another great step in the forward march toward the light of real civilization. It will be the foundation for other move- ments which will follow and improve upon it. It is for us, the citizens of to- morrow, to learn its value and to give it the support which so great a work is de- serving. The general impression that we have ot the League of Nations is a hazy picture of a group of solemn faces, diplomats, en- gaged in eternal and pointless debate. VV:-3 fail to appreciate the real benefits of the organization. The League is the means of establishing friendly relation-- ships between nations and every effort made in the direction widens the scope of the average person's business activity. The high tariff, the embargo and other institutions for the prevention of interna- tional trade are the result of misunder- standings which may be easily cleared up and eliminated. The work of the League of Nations toward international good feel- ing will do much toward lowering the price on even the simplest commodities. The modern world with its improved trans- portation and communication is too small to allow its races to live together and the League of Nations is the instrument which will guide us toward that ideal. JOHN BARR JAPAN'S AGGRESSIVENESS Not long ago a new state was set up in Asia. This new state was called Man- chuckuo. At its head is Henry Pu Yi. former Chinese prince. One would na- turally ask, Wliere is this country? Was there a revolution? Who recognizes it? In answer to the first question. it is situated in northeastern China, in the Chinese province that was formerly called Manchuria. This state was conceived, set up, tby armed force! and recognized by Japan. The Chinese armies are large in number but they have no airplanes, the most use- ful instrument of common warfare. Even the men in the trenches, though possess- ing a great amount of courage, are inade- quately trained and supplied. Now let us. see the reaction of the Jap- anese people to the war. Not long ago, there appeared in a Boston daily a small article telling the public that the Social- ists of Japan a1'e not allowed to meet. All Socialists are not necessarily against the war, just because it has been the cus- tom of this party to preach peace, because even the Socialists themselves use armed force to attain their ends. So it must be that the reason these meetings are stop- ped is not because they are Socialists, but because they oppose wars of aggression. Floyd Gibbons while in Japan sent a cable that said, War fever at great. height. This shows that most of the people are in favor of the war. yet why do they put such small uuinbers who are against the war down? Are they afraid the people of Japan will rise against the government? Some newspapers and magazines claim that Japan's governmental policies arc es- tablished by the army, but since none of them can give satisfying proof. it is doubt- ful. The league committee of nineteen, who have been investigating this war for about one year, have recently announ- ced that Japan is unjustified in the inva- sion of China. It declared that Japan did have a. right to protect her interests and citizens in China, but it did not have a right to invade the Chinese te1'1'itory. Therefore, China is justified in trying to repel .lapan's invasion. As soon as the committee of nineteenis report was made known, Jap.1n's delegates to the Assem- biy in Geneva withdrew. under orders of the home government. This is not a re- signation, however. since the league's law says a nation may not resign until two PAGE FIFTICEN