The organization of the League is simple. There is, first of all, an Assembly, consisting of not more than 3 delegates from each nation which is a member of the League. This would mean, at the present time, an Assembly of 96 delegates. The Constitution states that 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." (Art. III.) The Covenant, however, gives no real power to the Assembly, which is merely a "paper" legislature.

The real power in the League of Nations is vested in an Executive Council of 9 members. "The Council shall consist of representatives of the United States of America, of the British Empire, of France, of Italy and of Japan, together with representatives of 4 other members of the League. (Art. IV.) These 4 members are to be selected by the Assembly. "With the approval of the majority of the Assembly, the Council may name additional members of the League whose representatives shall always be members of the Council." (Art. IV.) The Council is required to meet at least once a year. At these meetings it may deal "with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world." (Art. IV.) These are the same words which are used in Article III with reference to the Assembly.

The Council is empowered to elect the SecretaryGeneral with the approval of the majority of the Assembly.

This is the basic machinery of the League. An Assembly of, say 100 members without important powers; an Executive Council of 9 members, 5 of whom must always come from the "Big Five" Allied nations, and a Secretary-General elected by the Executive Council. All real power is vested in the Executive Council.

The League Constitution (Art. V) makes it virtually impossible for even the Executive Council to take any important step without the unanimous consent of all important members of the League. "De

cisions at any meeting of the Assembly or of the Council shall require the agreement of all the members of the League represented at the meeting." Under this provision any one nation with a representative on the Executive Council could block every vital League activity.

The Constitution contains three main provisions and several minor ones. The three chief provisions are concerned with armaments, war and colonies.

The article dealing with armaments (Art. VIII) begins with a statement that "the maintenance of a peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with the national safety." Therefore, "the Council . . . shall formulate plans for such reduction for the consideration and action of the several Governments.' In other words, any provision regarding armament reduction. must be ratified by the nations in question before they become effective. In case a new member desires to enter the League it "shall accept such regulations as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its military and naval forces and armaments." (Art. I.)

The initiators of the League reserve to themselves the right to retain their own armaments and at the same time the League as a body is in a position to limit the armaments of any new members admitted. Under these circumstances it is interesting to note that neither Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Ukraine, Mexico, Finland, nor Russia is on the list of states which are to be invited to accept the Covenant in its present form. These states, when applying for membership in the League, would have their armaments limited at the discretion of the League and without any necessary relation to the armaments of League members.

The League Covenant is concerned chiefly with war. Its preamble opens with the words, "In order to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security." Sections XI to XVII deal exclusively with the problem of war. Section

XI begins as follows: "Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the members of the League or not, is hereby declared a matter of concern to the whole League, and the League shall take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations." "The members

of the League agree (Article XII) that if there should arise between them any dispute likely to lead to a rupture they will submit the matter either to arbitration or an inquiry by the Council. There is a further provision in Article XIII that in case of a dispute between members of the League "which they recognize to be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot be satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole subject matter to arbitration."

The next article (XIV) provides for a permanent court of international justice. This court "shall be competent to hear and determine any dispute of an international character which the parties thereto submit to it. The court may also give an advisory opinion upon any dispute or question referred to it by the Council or by the Assembly."

Should any nation violate its pledges with regard to war, under Article XVI it will be deemed "to have committed an act of war against all other members of the League." Thereupon the other members agree to subject the offending nation to an economic, commercial and financial boycott, and "the Council in such case to recommend to the several governments concerned what effective military or naval forces the members of the League shall severally contribute" to the armaments needed by the League.

All of the "war" provisions of the Covenant deal rather with the regulation than the prevention of war. Nowhere among these vitally important sections is there any provision that will give the League effective power. The League has no army. The League has no navy. The League is without a treasury. Nations are to submit to arbitration questions which they

recognize as suitable. The international court has power in all disputes which the parties submit to it. The League Council is to enforce decisions by recommending that nations provide certain military and naval forces. The organization lacks backbone, vitality, unity and executive authority.

The third important provision of the Covenant relates to colonies and dependencies. During the war there was a great deal of talk of self-determination. In the League Covenant the word is neither mentioned nor hinted at. Each of the Allied nations keeps its own colonies and dependencies without let or hindrance. With respect to enemy possessions, however, Article XXII provides that their well-being and development shall "form a sacred trust of civilization" and that the tutelage of such people shall be entrusted to advanced nations which "can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it." In certain cases, however, where the possession in question "can be best administered under the laws of the mandatory as integral portions of its territory," the mandatory nation is permitted to absorb the mandatee.

Like cargoes of silk and spices, like so much brick and mortar, like chattels in the world's markets, the tens of millions of people inhabiting the German colonies and the Turkish possessions are thus distributed among the Allied nations without being permitted a word in the decision of their own fate.

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Open Covenants of peace openly arrived at" was included by President Wilson in the first of his 14 points. Article XVIII, dealing with treaties, provides that "every convention or international engagement entered into henceforward by any member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretariat, and shall, as soon as possible, be published by it." Treaties are to be made, registered and then "opened" to the world.

The Covenant contains two obscure references to labor. Article XXIII states that "the members of

the League will endeavor to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women and children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend.” Later, in the same article, there occurs this extraordinary language, "the members of the League will entrust the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in women and children, and the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.' There is no indication as to what "traffic in women and children" is contemplated.

The League Covenant is practically unamendable. Section XXVI provides that amendments are to take effect "when ratified by the members of the League whose representatives compose the Council and by a majority of the members of the League whose representatives compose the Assembly.' This means approval by the Governments of the "Big Five," of the four other nations represented in the Council and of enough additional nations to give a majority in the Assembly.

The League of Nations as proposed in this Covenant consists of a political arrangement between the Allied and certain neutral nations. The document contains no important economic provisions. The machinery is intensely undemocratic. Under the Covenant as drawn, every member of the Assembly and of the Executive Council may be appointed by the Premiers of the nations involved. Not only is there no provision for the general election of delegates, but there is no provision for recall or for the responsibility of the delegates to the people of their respective countries. Furthermore, the five nations with the big armies and the big navies always select five out of nine members of the Council and thus may always direct the affairs of the League. In addition, any one nation by veto may hold up any single important League decision.

The organization of the League is undemocratic.