THE LEAGUE: Saved by a Stimson

(See front cover)

The peace of Asia, if there is to be peace, was more nearly in the hands of Sir John Allsebrook Simon last week than in those of any other man. At Geneva the British Foreign Secretary suavely brought the League Assembly around to a certain way of looking at the Sino-Japanese situation. This viewpoint approximated that of President Hoover and Secretary Stimson. Meanwhile at Shanghai, where the Japanese victory had become embarrassingly pyrrhic (see p. 16), worried Japanese generals, admirals and diplomats flocked around the British Minister, Sir Miles Wedderburn Lampson, who was, of course, under orders from his chief, Sir John Simon.

On the sidelines at Shanghai sat U. S. Vice Admiral Montgomery Taylor aboard his flagship the battle cruiser Houston. At Geneva the U. S. ''observer" was U. S. Minister to Switzerland Hugh Wilson. Three times during a single League Assembly sitting tall, sad-eyed Sir John Simon walked over to Observer Wilson and publicly whispered in his ear. This British courtesy and the general line of Sir John's efforts so pleased Mr. Stimson that next day he told Washington correspondents that now "all nations can speak with the same voice." A spokesman for Observer Wilson said that he was "very grateful" to Sir John. For what?

Minor League States including the British Dominions had begun last week by demanding that the League take action of some sort or at least that the Assembly name the "aggressor" (Japan). But slowly, artfully Sir John and other statesmen of the Great Powers got the minor nations in hand. As London's famed Spectator has said, "The motto of Sir John Simon is apparently l'artifice, l'artifice, et toujours l'artifice." Last week artful John, a lawyer accustomed to receive the largest fees charged in the Empire, made short work of such whippersnappers as, for example, the Delegate of His Majesty's Dominion of South Africa, Hon. Charles T. te Water.

When it began to seem that the Assembly would not even name the aggressor, Mr. te Water whippersnapped, looking directly at Sir John:

"We need wise, strong leadership and action, not mere words! Are the Great Powers satisfied that they have shown the way?"

Thus challenged from His Majesty's own camp, the Great Lawyer "looked uncomfortable." according to correspondents, but Mr. te Water was not so foolish as to press his charge, sat down.

What Sir John proceeded to do, as a few astute Britons frankly pointed out, was this: he pressed upon the League the Asiatic policy which Mr. Stimson enunciated in his letter to Senator Borah (TIME. March 7). Thus Sir John tucked some exceedingly strange bedfellows into the League bed, but at the same time he kept Mother Britain's apron clear, no matter what may happen. Blame for the policy which the League proceeded to adopt was promptly heaped by Tokyo upon Washington. "Mr. Stimson," said the Japanese Foreign Office spokesman acidly, "is leading the League by the nose."

Where?