Show f League Marking Time TUE TTE council of the l league ague of nations furnished 1 Wednesday the first significant indication of the the- course cours it may take at this sitting to move toward peace in Ethiopia Its setting up of a mutual assistance pact binding together Great Britain r France Turkey Greece and via t f forecasts recasts heightened sanctions pressure on Italy 7 for lor the remainder of January January but but no action Decision to study further furthers the probable effects of an an oil embargo is for one thing stalling by bythe the league e. e Everyone v at Geneva knows th that t oil 1 is Italy's only wiLy hope For another thing despite L Litvinoff's vi f failure to put through gh a motion to wait walt until plans of countries outside the league are known the council is plainly trying to hold hoid of off until the oil embargo qu question i is settled In in ou our own congre congress congress' neutrality legisla legisla- tio tion And beyond this th the league powers are arc engaging in a a. little dollar diplomacy on their own wn account They are aloe comin coming around to the view that an an oh oil embar embargo o w wont won't nt stop th the war war because if they dont don't sell Italy what it needs she will be able to make other arrangements In n words none of the powers with oil for lor lorI I sale wants to lose the business If there is one plain implication in all this it is that t there will be beno no oil emb embargo rg ela clamped ped down Not less clear is it th that t the council will spend most of pf its time in diplomatic forensics declaring for sterner sanctions but putting littie little lit lit- tie tle e real presSure pressure on Italy This will amount to toa a grandiose effort to stop war by moral suasion l D Decisions calc calculated to g give vc Mussolini anything j to worry about do not presently appear in prospect pros pros- P may ct-may may not until l the full session sessio of the league itself in in May The little rains rains' in in n Ethiopia bringing a l lull lullin l in Infield field op operations rations on op a larJ large scale are not solely of advantage to Haile Selassie They give Mussolini time at home to consolidate his re resources re- re sources a and d Marshal Marsha Badoglio opportunity to 1 organize his camp campaign and assure himself lines v co communication in the he theater of operations 4 Italy's vast investment in the Ethiopian expedition presses on il ii duce to man maneuver maneuver ver African forces forces' into mass battle where best opportunities op op- op lie lIc for a mechanized army Italy needs peeds eeds a conspicuous victory to nourish morale t I at h home mc and to regain world esteem Such a vi victory tory must include 1 possession sesSion of the Lake Tana ana region All this Thu means fiercer i war war and sterner sanctions but b by the tim time the league gets around to them it may be far too late As As for the tho present pac pacts discussions committees com corn 1 to study probable effects of league measures measures and commissions to probe atrocity charges are league scenery |