The League of Nations
Intellectual Co-operation in Various Spheres •
I have sometimes been asked why two great Secretariats should be established in Geneva, both dealing with international relations.
The answer to such a question is simple. The League is concerned with many things, but they. are largely political, while the I.L.O. works in an entirely non-political field. It has little or nothing to do with questions of national sovereignty as such, its concern being with those intimate and practical affairs that affect our pockets. In the end, • of course, such matters have a bearing on politics, but it is easy to see that those concerned in their solution should be free to make experiments without sifting them through the hair sieve of a diplomacy that for all its protests of reform still looks a little wistfully on the power and prerogatives . of an elder day.
Before the last War, Europe presented the picture of a number of isolated Sovereign States, each crowing on its own dunghill, so to speak, and making many specious promises of pacific- intentions without hastening the dawn of peace more noticeably than so many Chanticleers. In that pre-War world the function of the business man was to earn the keep of ambassadors and generals. To extract any technical or economic information from the gilded creatures of the Chancelleries was a long business. Supposing, for instance, that some economist in England had heard (as one did) that the Danish Ministry of Labour had collated very useful statistics as to the cost of living in that country, which might be applied to England, and suppose he tried to get that information through official channels : a memorandum would be sent to Whitehall : in a month's time it would filter through bored secretaries to Copenhagen, and in the fullness of time it would be conveyed to the Danish Foreign Office. In another two months the inquiry might drift back, if Embassies and offices were efficient. If they were not, the inquirer might whistle for his information all through the spring. And finally, the economist might go off for a summer holiday to Denmark and discover for himself what he wanted. There was no direct approach between nation and nation. But now the economist, the doctor, the social worker, the 'statistician, need only write to Geneva.- He will find there one or other of the various international departments in which he is interested which will have full information about what is happening not only in Copenhagen, say, but in every other capital of the world where similar activities are being prose- cuted. Such broadening and strengthening of ties between - man and man and community and community cannot but have a profound effect on the future peace of the world.
Of the various roots put out by the tree of the League, we may consider briefly the Institute of Intellectual Co-opera- tion, whose purpose is to achieve international progress along the lines of literature, art, and education. For long, such bodies have existed as the International Bibliographical Institute at Brussels, with the object of promoting mutual understanding. between intellectual workers in all countries. They were specialized, however ; none was qualified to co-ordinate the efforts of the others. It was in 1922 that the first committee on International Co-operation began its work with fifteen members under the presidency of M. Bergson, the great philosopher. Three years ago the French Government generously offered to. establish the headquarters of the Committee in Paris, and the Institute was inaugurated in January, 1926, in a wing of the Palais Royal.
Thirty-two countries have now set up national committees on Intellectual Co-operation who keep in touch with the Institute, and through it with the League. As far as I know we have no such Committee in England at present. I am glad to see, however, that Mr. Galsworthy has consented to serve on the Sub-Committee of Arts and Letters.
The work of the Institute includes a press-cutting depart- ment, and the publication of international bulletins of University, and scientific relations. It sends out an annual list of notable books published in different countries and a monthly bulletin from Paris. The exchange of professors and the movement of foreign students are also being con- sidered. - The Literature Section --is - making a statistical investigation of- the subject of translation. There haVe been meetings of experts who discussed the Most efficaciods means of preserving paper and ink used- in public records, and of co-ordinating the bibliographical facilities of the world, so that a student in any country may apply to a central library for any information he may need in his work. In Cuba and Cairo, in Germany and Japan, discugsions have been held serving to multiply and canalize the relations between intelleCtual institutions and interests in all countries.
In conclusion; I would briefly allude to two Organization§ which; while not coming within the scope of the League, are • useful adjuncts thereto. One is -the International School at Geneva, a very excellent institution (co-educitiOnal and modern in the best sense) which has been fOunded as a private enterprise by a number of the officials of the League of Nations, in order that their children should obtain the benek of those international ideag to which they themselves have devoted their lives. The intention (and from personal obser- vation I think it is being fulfilled) is that the children should grow up with boys and girls of other races in a truly inter- national atmosphere, thus shedding that armour of racial suspicion that inevitably clings to the purely national school. In my opinion it is a great and good idea, and I am glad that the scheme is succeeding. The school has received sub- Ventions from the Rockefeller Fund, but the numbers of pupils-have been doubled and it is now beginning to pay its Way. There is a day:sehool in Geneva and a residential eStab- lishment in the suburb of Onex to which the children at the day-school are transferred by motor several times a 'week. Now that the Ecole Internationale has definitely proved itself, it is proposed to amalgamate the two establishnients and to enlarge the whole scheme. Those interested In the subject should write to Dr. Rajchmann, the doctor and organizer who has done so much for the health of the World his address is the League Of Naticing.
The Institute of Higher International Studies at Geneva is another organization of interest. It is supported at present by subventions from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial and the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The principal task of the Institute will be to enable students already prepared by previous studies in law, history, or political economy to improve their knowledge of international questions.: M. Paul Mantoux, the Director, may be said to be one of the greatest -living experts on modern European history. lie was Director of the Political SeetiOn of the Ledgue Secretariat until last year, when his time expired. During- the War and: at the Peace Conference he acted as' secretary-interpreter at the meetings of the heads of the Allied and Associated Govern- ments. There are thirty graduate students under him • at- present taking a six months' course, and a fluctuating number of visiting members making a short stay in Geneva. - The Institute is only in its infancy, having been opened last autumn, but the present attendance and the series of lectures arranged for 1928 augur well for its success. M. Erich, the Finnish Member of the League Council, is to give four lectures on M. Rappard, Rector of . the University of Geneva, giVes one hour weekly to a description of the cirganika- tion of the League. As the centre of international life, Geneva is the right place for this-Insti.tute, which undoubtedly has a future before it. - Like the International School, it is largely'_ American money that has made it possible, a fact that some of us might remember before deploring the materialism of the United States.
By such means as these the youth of Europe are learning that tout comprendre est tout pardonner. The bases' of world peace will be obvious to. theni. To us who believe in the League they are a truth discoVered ; to them their will be
facts absorbed with their mother's milk,: or at any rate with . , the multiplication table:
F. YEAts4likowbr.
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