gdth Council

96th Council

A gentleman of flawless Harvard accent and Parisian mien is Dr. Vikyuin Wellington Koo, the great Chinese diplomat who is now Minister to France, who held the like post in Washington and London, who has dominated Chinese diplomacy at every World Conference from Versailles to the London Economic, was acting Premier of China for eight months a decade ago and who last week at Geneva presided over the 96th session of the League Council as its president. P: Fresh from Madrid arrived the Council's special Medical Commission of two French doctors and one Polish to report "the health of the Spanish people is very satisfactory." The Commission said that at least 150,000 of Madrid's current population of about 1,500,000 have now been evacuated; urged that Madrid be at once permitted to buy 200 motor busses from France to evacuate another 225,000; rejoiced that typhus has not broken out as had been expected in the besieged capital; advocated additional Red debusing. P: The French and the Turks, past masters of diplomacy, fenced delicately over what was now admitted in Geneva to be virtually a demand by Dictator Kama! Atatuerk ("Father of the Turks") that France hand over to him from her Syrian mandate the sanjak (district) of Alexandretta, scene of recent bloody riots (TIME, Jan. 18). Sagely observed a veteran League sec- retary, "Like everyone else, except the English and the French, the Turks have now become dynamic and got the 'gimmes.' Today they want Alexandretta, tomorrow it will be the oil fields of Mosul. The prairie fire of covetousness is spreading." P: After furious bickering for 90 minutes between Red Spanish Foreign Minister Julio Alvarez del Vayo, comparatively inexperienced in League ways, and that voluble Geneva veteran Dr. Augustin Edwards of Chile, the latter lost his point. This was to get on the agenda of the Council for discussion his demand that 6,000 Spanish Whites who have taken refuge in Madrid in the embassies and legations shall not be butchered by the Reds upon emerging but permitted to leave Spain "under guarantees of safety." P: Most heartening words which the battered League has heard in years came last week at Lyons from French Premier Leon Blum. His speech, while proposing nothing specific, was an overture of goodwill toward Germany, hopefully intended to woo Der Fuehrer out of any intention he may have to shake Europe with another violent deed before the Reichstag meets at Adolf Hitler's call Jan. 30. "Our objective," cried Premier Blum, "is for a settlement of European problems as a whole. . . . We are members of the League of Nations, faithful to its principles and loyal to its Covenant! We have linked friendships which we shall maintain . . . contracted obligations to which we shall remain entirely loyal!"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.