matter, not having been a member of the League.

The Preparatory Commission set up a committee of eight Members-now including the United States-to confer with the officials of the League of Nations and the International Labor Organization for the purpose of drawing up a "Common Plan" to effect the transfer of various activities of the League and its material assets, the chief of which was the building located in Geneva including the library, archives and furnishings. It was proposed in the resulting Plan that credits on the books of the United Nations should be established in favor of those Members of the United Nations who had contributed in the League to the creation of these material assets.

The General Assembly established an ad hoc Committee on the League of Nations, and on the basis of the recommendation of that Committee, the Assembly also established a Negotiating Committee of eight Members, including the United States, with authority to negotiate with the League authorities and with the Swiss and Dutch authorities insofar as they are concerned with the properties respectively of the League and the Permanent Court of International Justice. It appears likely that the League Assembly, which will hold its last meeting on April 8, will confirm the arrangements so negotiated and that the legally effective transfer will take place this summer.

Headquarters of the United Nations

The General Assembly also created an ad hoc Headquarters Committee "to consider the site of the temporary and permanent headquarters of the United Nations and other matters directly connected therewith". The Committee, which included a representative of each of the United Nations, met on February 2 and elected Dr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel of Colombia, Chairman, L. D. Wilgress of Canada, Vice Chairman, and Nasrollah Entezam of Iran, Rapporteur. Previously, on December 27, the Interim Committee on Headquarters established by the Preparatory Commission had appointed an Inspection Group to visit the United States and to consider sites within the following described areas: "Boston area-districts within. 60 miles of Boston; New York area-districts within 25 to 80 miles of New York City, in the Valley of the Hudson River and in New York State and Connecticut east of the river, also the Princeton, New Jersey district." The Inspection Group was also commissioned to consider "the most suitable arrangements for an interim headquarters, preferably in or near the districts chosen for selection as permanent headquarters." The Inspection Group was composed of Dr. Stoyan Gavrilovic, Yugoslavia, Chairman, Dr. Shuhsi Hsu, China, Vice Chairman, Mr. Francois Brière, France, Mr. Awni Khalidy, Iraq, Major the Hon. K. G. Younger, United Kingdom, Sr. don Julio A. Lacarte Muró, Uruguay, and Mr. G. F. Saksin, [15]

687741°-46

The question of whether public nominations should be made in all cases of election in the General Assembly arose in the first such case, the clection of its President. That election was by secret ballot, as laid down in the general rule for all elections. One school of opinion assumed that no nominations from the floor would be needed and considered public nominations inconsistent with maintaining completely the principle of the secret ballot. The United States Delegation favored having nominations made either orally, or by written message to the President of the General Assembly to be announced by him without disclosure of the source. Others not only favored having nominations but inclined toward restricting elections to Members or individuals actually nominated. The General Assembly, after prolonged consideration by its Legal Committee, decided, subject to future reconsideration, that there should be no nominations.

Languages

One of the persistently difficult problems, on which widely differing views were held, was the language rules to be adopted for the Organization. The Preparatory Commission, not having been able to reach agreement, recommended merely that the language rules adopted for use at the San Francisco Conference should be continued by the Organization pending a final determination. The General Assembly finally decided to maintain the practice of the San Francisco Conference and to recommend similar action by the other organs except the International Court, the Statute of which makes French and English its official languages.

Accordingly, the rules of the General Assembly establish five official languages, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese; English and French will, however, be the working languages, and speeches in any other languages must be translated into both of these. All important documents will be published in these five languages, and other documents will be printed upon request in any of these languages.

League of Nations Functions, Activities, and Assets

It had long been evident that the creation of the United Nations would involve an early termination of the League of Nations, of which 38 of the United Nations have remained members, and certain of the activities of which have continued in London, Princeton, Washington, and Geneva. It had generally been felt, however, that various of the League's technical and non-political activities, as well as the material assets of the League, should be transferred to the United Nations, in order that there might be the least possible interruption in the performance of such work as the United Nations may desire to continue. Until the time of the Preparatory Commission, the

matter, not having been a member of the League:

The Preparatory Commission set up a committee of eight Members-now including the United States-to confer with the officials of the League of Nations and the International Labor Organization for the purpose of drawing up a "Common Plan" to effect the transfer of various activities of the League and its material assets, the chief of which was the building located in Geneva including the library, archives and furnishings. It was proposed in the resulting Plan that credits on the books of the United Nations should be established in favor of those Members of the United Nations who had contributed in the League to the creation of these material assets.

The General Assembly established an ad hoc Committee on the League of Nations, and on the basis of the recommendation of that Committee, the Assembly also established a Negotiating Committee of eight Members, including the United States, with authority to negotiate with the League authorities and with the Swiss and Dutch authorities insofar as they are concerned with the properties respectively of the League and the Permanent Court of International Justice. It appears likely that the League Assembly, which will hold its last meeting on April 8, will confirm the arrangements so negotiated and that the legally effective transfer will take place this summer.

Headquarters of the United Nations

The General Assembly also created an ad hoc Headquarters Committee "to consider the site of the temporary and permanent headquarters of the United Nations and other matters directly connected therewith". The Committee, which included a representative of each of the United Nations, met on February 2 and elected Dr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel of Colombia, Chairman, L. D. Wilgress of Canada, Vice Chairman, and Nasrollah Entezam of Iran, Rapporteur. Previously, on December 27, the Interim Committee on Headquarters established by the Preparatory Commission had appointed an Inspection Group to visit the United States and to consider sites within the following described areas: "Boston area-districts within 60 miles of Boston; New York area-districts within 25 to 80 miles of New York City, in the Valley of the Hudson River and in New York State and Connecticut east of the river, also the Princeton, New Jersey district." The Inspection Group was also commissioned to consider "the most suitable arrangements for an interim headquarters, preferably in or near the districts chosen for selection as permanent headquarters." The Inspection Group was composed of Dr. Stoyan Gavrilovic, Yugoslavia, Chairman, Dr. Shuhsi Hsu, China, Vice Chairman, Mr. Francois Brière, France, Mr. Awni Khalidy, Iraq, Major the Hon. K. G. Younger, United Kingdom, Sr. don Julio A. Lacarte Muró, Uruguay, and Mr. G. F. Saksin, [15]

687741°-46

and Mr. Geoffrey Wilson, British, as Deputy Secretary. On February 4, the Inspection Group returned to London, and the Interim Committee on Headquarters approved its report subject to certain changes. The report recommended that the permanent headquarters of the United Nations should be established "(a) near to New York City; and (b) in the North Stamford - Greenwich district", and that the interim headquarters should be in New York City.

At the outset of the subsequent debate in the ad hoc Headquarters Committee of the Assembly, Mr. Adlai E. Stevenson, representing the United States, stated that his Government would be neutral with respect to the selection of a city, as it had consistently been theretofore in connection with the choice of a country for the permanent headquarters. He extended assurances, however, that his Government was prepared to assist and cooperate in any way to facilitate the establishment of permanent headquarters and also of suitable temporary facilities, but did not otherwise participate in the discussion. The debate disclosed certain objections to the North GreenwichStamford area recommended by the Interim Committee, some Delegations favoring San Francisco, and others objecting particularly to the cost of acquiring a large amount of land in the recommended area. The United States took no part in this discussion except that, in a related consideration of budgetary matters, Senator Vandenberg, representing the United States in the administrative and budgetary fields, questioned the necessity of purchasing a tract of over forty square miles of expensive land, especially in view of the consequent heavy financial burden upon the Members. A motion by the French Delegation to postpone the choice of the permanent seat until the September Assembly meeting, pending thorough study of all the offers from various cities and localities, was lost by a tie vote of 19 to 19. A resolution originally proposed by the Netherlands recommending that the permanent headquarters should be situated in Westchester County, New York, and/or Fairfield County, Connecticut, was finally adopted in the Committee by a vote of 22 to 17. This resolution. provided for the establishment of a Permanent Headquarters Commission of the General Assembly, and directed it to prepare plans and estimates of the costs of sites varying in size from 2 square miles to 40 square miles within these counties, and to recommend a specific site of specific dimensions. It further provided that on the basis of this information, the Assembly in its September meeting shall make the final decision on the exact area required and the exact location. The Commission will also assist the Secretary-General on problems arising in connection with the temporary headquarters and with arrangements for the next meeting of the General Assembly. Experts designated by the United States Government will help the Commission in its work. The Secretary-General will conduct any necessary

permanent headquarters.

On February 14 the General Assembly approved these recommendations without a dissenting vote, the United States abstaining. The Permanent Headquarters Commission now established is composed of Representatives of Australia, Uruguay, China, France, Iraq, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

Representation of Non-Governmental Organizations

The General Assembly was confronted by an additional problem of organization which was debated from the outset of its work to the closing day. The Ukrainian Delegation proposed that a request of the World Federation of Trade Unions for representation in the United Nations should be placed on the Agenda. As the General Committee began its consideration of this request, it was made clear that the desires of the WFTU were to sit in the General Assembly and in the Economic and Social Council not only in a consultative capacity but with the right to speak and with the prospect at a later stage of being granted full rights of participation including, in the case of the Council, even the right to vote.

The United States, represented by Senator Connally, strongly opposed a grant of such representation as a fundamental departure from the Charter, which does not provide for seating representatives of non-governmental organizations in the General Assembly, and which, in Article 71, restricted participation by non-governmental organizations in the Economic and Social Council to a consultative capacity. Under the Charter, both these organs are composed solely of States Members of the United Nations. The United States also strongly held the opinion that a formal recommendation with respect to any appropriate consultative relationship between the Economic and Social Council and the WFTU should also include other non-governmental organizations which had manifested interest in having such a relationship, specifically including the American Federation of Labor.

In the prolonged and involved consideration of the matter, wide divergence of views was manifested by Delegations and a number of solutions were proposed without resolving the difficulty. The resolution adopted by the Assembly on the last day of the session, February 14, recommended to the Economic and Social Council that as soon as possible it should adopt suitable arrangements enabling the World Federation of Trade Unions and the International Cooperative Alliance as well as other international non-governmental organizations, and the American Federation of Labor as well as other national and regional non-governmental organizations, to collaborate for purposes of consultation with the Council.

The text of the resolution as adopted was prepared by the United States Delegation, and is contained in the appendices of this Report.