declares that there shall be applied to the problem of governing the states or territories from which the sovereignty exercised before the war has been removed and which are occupied by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves,

the principle that the well being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this covenant.

It declares the best method of giving practical effect to this principle to be that the tutelage of such peoples be entrusted to advanced nations, who, by reason of their resources, experience or geographical position, can best undertake this responsibility, and that the character of the mandate under which they should act must differ according to the stage of development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions, and other similar circumstances. In the case of communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire which have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can provisionally be

recognized, subject to the general assistance and control of a mandatary, it is declared that the wishes of those communities should be the principal consideration in the selection of a particular mandatary. Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage of development that the mandatary must be responsible for the administration of the territory, under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses, such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military training of the natives, except for their own police and defense purposes and under such conditions also as will secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other members of the League. These provisions should effectively preclude the possibility of such scandals as the history of the Congo State affords.

Other territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands, which are contiguous to organized and civi

lized powers of the character of the South African Union or the Australasian Commonwealth can, it is pointed out in the revised Covenant, best be administered as integral portions of the territory of such an adjacent nation, and under its laws, subject to the safeguards above mentioned, and in the interests of the indigenous population.

In every instance, the mandatary is required to render to the Council an annual report of its stewardship, and a permanent commission is to be constituted to receive and examine these reports, and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.

The United States is not required, under the treaty, to accept a mandate to administer any one of these territories. But the direct responsibility which it has assumed in the settlement of the terms of peace may, and probably will, impose upon it the moral obligation of discharging some duty in this direction. The experience which has been gained in the administration of our Asiatic and other insular possessions should have fitted us for the performance of such a trust.

(Letter No. 25)

LABOUR

The labour article in the original Covenant (Article XX) merely bound the parties to the establishment, as a part of the League organization, of a permanent Bureau of Labour, in furtherance of an effort to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labour in the countries of the League and those with which they should have commercial and industrial relations.

Before the revised Covenant was adopted, the Commission on International Labour Legislation, appointed by the Peace Conference, had submitted a report recommending the establishment by the League of a permanent organization for the promotion of international regulation of labour conditions. With that in view, there was substituted for Article XX a new Article XXIII, reading as follows:

"Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the league (a) will endeavour to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children both in their own countries and in all countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend, and for that purpose will establish and maintain the necessary international organizations; (b) undertake to secure just treatment of the native inhabitants of territories under their control; (c) will intrust the league with the general supervision over the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in women and children, and the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs; (d) will interest the league with the general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic is necessary in the common interest; (e) will make provision to secure and maintain freedom of communication and of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all members of the league. In this connection the special necessities of the re