Show t Where fhe League Fails Fails' 1 PERHAPS pERHAPS If the unequal contest in Africa z JT were to be a a out drawn affair which affair which could only be the case if the Italian armies were poorly equipped and if forbidding terrain and blistering sun and drenching rains conspired 4 with an inexhaustible supply of replacements 5 for for- forthe the native armies to oppose the Roman legions le- le g gions the gions-the the ons-the the economic and political al sanctions of S the league without backing of military for force e fi could be shown to be an effective force for peace But not overlooking successes in relatively relative relative- ly minor issues the league lague has demonstrated its its its' c 1 inability to cope a wilful b belligerent well well- a med armed and strongly governed nation which has laid by reserves of money and necessities for the armed and civil population The threat of sanctions sanctions sanc sane S tio neither de deterred erred Italy from war nor has it appeared to have had an appreciable effect upon the wars war's duration duration unless unless it has been to spur pur Italians to prodigious efforts agai against st terri terrific ic odds to uncommon ruthlessness and a national 1 a to suffer extinction in preference b to acceptance of external dictation 4 In Europe Europe and and in the United States to some e extent extent we we are arc hearing that the reason the league has failed is because America held aloof from it that if we were aligned with it no power on earth could assume the role of an aggressor 5 and go through with it This twaddle scarcely deserves refutation because the re real l reason for t league failure is so easy to discover Secretary of State Stimson called on the l league lOague ague for action when Japan was marching into in defiance of a whole armful armful arm ann ful of treaties Here was an ideal case for league action here too the United States was not only willing but anxious to cooperate So what happened The French and the English couldn't be both both- f eec ered They looked the tho other way so pointedly that our Mr Stimson was left way out on a limb to his vast embarrassment The Jap Japanese nese went vent ahead with their program as unhampered by collective collective action as if the league had never been invented A few years fears passed and arid Mussolini sent his troops into Ethiopia This time England suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly awoke to the need for lor collective actionS action'S action action- S 'S t Ethiopia being in the backyard of a n private Eng Eng- X 1 lish preserve preserve and reserve reserve-an and demanded action The French Frenc l cot co couldn't ld tle it IC They might need Mussolini later n ni jh approached th th cU table with 5 S. S all the reluctance of a bri bridegroom legroom at a shotgun shotgun shotgun shot- shot gun wedding and the upshot was that Mussolini Musso Musso- lini Ilni h had d his way Then German troops marched into the Rhineland France suddenly discovered the sanctity of treaties and the need for international international international action and the British displayed a coy shyness in the matter It is against this background that European European European Euro Euro- statesmen and publicists arc beginning once more to accuse the United States of wrecking wrecking wrecking wreck wreck- ing the league by refusing to play its proper part It would be tragic if any American were fooled by this kind of talk The league has failed tailed in its its' great opportunities because the English and the French have sought to use it not as an instrument for keeping the peace but as a means of advancing their own national policies If the league is not what it might have been they can blame their own wn selfishness |