THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS: The Assembly's Week

The following matters of importance came before the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva:

Hungary. A report on Hungarian financial reconstruction was read by Commissioner General Jeremiah Smith Jr., of Boston. It was a long recital of the success of the League's plan to put Hungary on her feet. Points made by Mr. Smith: currency inflation definitely ended; stock of exchange had risen from one million Swiss francs to 90 million in the space of a few months; budget deficit for year ending June 30 had been covered; adverse trade balance reduced by 40%. Hungary should be self-supporting at the end of two years.

Albania. Premier Fan Noli of Albania, Harvard graduate, caused a stir in the Assembly by delivering himself of a veiled attack on the U. S. He described Boston as an Irish city "full of O'Connors, O'Connells and Fitzgeralds, all of them good talkers, who with other Irishmen do all of the talking in American electoral campaigns."

Continuing, he said: "There is no wonder why the Americans, Germans and Russians are not anxious to join the League of Nations. They do not appreciate our speeches. They know better."

The Assembly, said he, was nothing but "words, words, words— which means, in plain English, hot air."

Then shifting to the Experts Plan, he called it "a tortuous, complicated, diabolical, infernal combination of bubbles—the most colossal super-bubble modern history has produced."

British Fleet. In the manner of parlance, Sir Cecil Hurst, legal ad- viser to the Foreign Office, "dropped a naval bomb" into the Assembly, when he declared that Great Britain would accept the principle of compulsory arbitration provided that she were not brought into Court because of some act of her Navy performed in attempting to maintain or restore peace. His speech mightily pleased the French, who subsequently agreed unconditionally to the principle of arbitration in international disputes.

Security. The draft compact of arbitration, disarmament and security was in process of formation. The above-quoted naval qualification was accepted by the experts who are charged with the task of making a plan that will please everyone.