Report Outline
Declarations of Policy by Great Powers
Developing Status of the League Assembly
The League, the United States and the World Court
League Efforts Toward Disarmament
The Tenth Assembly of the League of Nations, which sat at Geneva from September 2 to September 25, 1929, was in many respects the most notable gathering of that body since the League was organized in January, 1920, The representation was more complete than at any previous Assembly, fifty-three of the fifty-four member nations having delegations present. The number of prime ministers (nine) and foreign ministers (twenty) attending all or part of the sessions was also greater than ever before. Whereas only four European members sent their foreign ministers to the First Assembly, in 1920, only four European members (Austria, Hungary, Italy and Spain) failed to send their foreign ministers to the Tenth Assembly.
In spite of the presence of an unusual number of European political leaders, this year's Assembly was less dominated by Europe than its predecessors. Several instances served to show the growing interest of other parts of the world in the work of the League. For the first time the delegation from India was headed by a native Indian, Sir Muhammad Habibullah, instead of by a British official, as in previous Assemblies. The new Nationalist government of China had the largest delegation that country has ever sent to Geneva, its three official spokesmens being the Chinese ministers at Washington, Berlin and Paris. A more substantial evidence of Chinese interest was the payment of $100,000 into the League treasury just before the Assembly convened. This sum, representing six months dues in the case of China, was the first payment that country had made in several years.
Latin-American Co-Operation in League Activities
The most striking evidence at the Tenth Assembly of increasing non-European coöperation in League activities came from Latin America. Of the twenty republics south of the United States in the Western Hemisphere, all except Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico were represented at this year's Assembly. Of the absentees all but Argentina are non-member states. Bolivia Honduras and Peru returned to Geneva after absences of varying duration, that of Honduras having continued since the First Assembly. Bolivia emphasized her return to the League circle by a request, which was granted, that the League's Health Committee designate an expert to collaborate in reorganizing the public health services of that country. Panama and Cuba both sent their foreign ministers as delegates, while the Venezuelan delegation was headed by a former president of that country. Dr. José Gil-Fortoul. It was largely as a result of the prominence of Latin America that Dr. Gustavo Guerrero, of Salvador, was elected president of the Assembly, an honor which invariably falls to the representative of a small nation. On the floor of the Assembly several South American delegates spoke of the Council's intervention -in the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute last winter as signifying increasing League influence in Latin America. Senor Costa du Rels for Bolivia and Dr. Caballero Tor Paraguay announced the intention of their governments to bring about final settlement of the dispute “in accordance with the League's great principles of justice and peace.” |
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