certain Federal States, and therefore proposed the above solution as the best possible in the circumstances.

Attention should be drawn to the protocol to Article 19. The fear was expressed that the article might be interpreted as implying that a State would be required to diminish the protection already afforded to the workers by its legislation as a result of the adoption of a recommendation or draft convention by the Conference; and in consequence, the protocol was added in order to make it quite clear that such an interpretation was inadmissible.

It should be added that the Japanese Delegation abstained from voting on Article 19, as they had not yet received instructions from their Government in the matter. The Italian Delegation also abstained on the ground of the inadequacy of the powers given to the Conference.

2. Enforcement (Articles 22 to 34)

These articles provide machinery whereby a State which fails to carry out its obligations arising under Article 19, or which fails to enforce a convention which it has ratified, may be made subject to economic measures. This machinery is briefly as follows:

An industrial association of employers and workpeople may make representations to the International Labor Office which the Governing Body may at its discretion communicate to the State complained of for its observations. (Article 23.) If no satisfactory reply is received, the Governing Body may publish the correspondence (Article 24), which in most cases will probably create sufficient pressure by public opinion to cause the complaint to be remedied.

The Governing Body also has the power, either on its own motion or on receipt of a complaint from a Government or from a Delegate to the Conference, to apply to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to nominate a commission of enquiry. For the purpose of such enquiries, each High Contracting Party undertakes to nominate one employer, one workman and one person of independent standing, and each commission shall consist of one person drawn from each of these three categories. (Articles 25 and 26.) The Commission will report on the facts, recommend the steps which should be taken to meet the complaint, and indicate the economic measures, if any, which it

considers would be appropriate in the event of the condition complained of not being remedied. (Article 28.)

Appeal may be made to the Permanent Court of International Justice of the League of Nations, which shall have power to review the findings of the Commission. (Articles 29 to 32.) If the defaulting State fails to carry out the recommendations of the Commission or the Permanent Court, as the case may be, within the specified time, it will then be open to the other States to take the economic measures indicated against it. (Article 33.) It will be seen that the above procedure has been carefully devised in order to avoid the imposition of penalties, except in the last resort, when a State has flagrantly and persistently refused to carry out its obligations under a convention. It can hardly be doubted that it will seldom, if ever, be necessary to bring these powers into operation, but the Commission consider that the fact of their existence is nevertheless a matter of almost vital importance to the success of the scheme.

The representatives of the working classes in some countries have pressed their delegates to urge more drastic provisions in regard to penalties. The Commission, while taking the view that it will in the long run be preferable as well as more effective to rely on the pressure of international public opinion rather than on economic measures, nevertheless considers it necessary to retain the possibility of the latter in the background. If all forms of sanction were removed, the effectiveness of the scheme, and, what is almost equally important, the belief in its effectiveness, would be in a great measure destroyed.

CHAPTER III
General

This Chapter does not call for much comment, but attention should perhaps be drawn to the provisions of Article 35, which provide that the British Dominions and India, and any colonies or possessions of any State which may hereafter be recognized as fully self-governing by the Executive Council of the League of Nations, shall have the same rights and obligations under the convention as if they were separate High Contracting Parties. It seemed evident to the Commission that colonies which were fully self-governing, not only as regards labor legislation but generally, must be regarded as separate entities for the purposes of the Labor Conference, but it was decided that a State and its

self-governing colonies should not have more than one seat in the Governing Body. In the case of colonies which are not fully self-governing, the mother country undertakes the obligation to apply labor conventions to them, unless local conditions render it impossible to apply them either wholly or in part.

CHAPTER IV

Transitory Provisions

This Chapter provides, inter alia, for the holding of the first Conference in October, 1919.

The Commission felt it was essential that the Conference should meet at the earliest possible moment, but that, if it was to do its work effectively, some time must be allowed for the collection of information and for the different countries to prepare their views on the various subjects for discussion. The Conference could, therefore, hardly meet earlier than October. In the schedule to Article 39, it is proposed that the arrangements for this Conference should be made by an international committee consisting of representatives of the States named, with power to invite other States to send representatives, if necessary. It is suggested that the United States Government might be willing to convene the Conference at Washington, and the Commission much hopes that they will be willing to undertake this task. It is also suggested that the Peace Conference should approve the agenda set out in the same schedule.

The Italian Delegation proposed that all Nations should be admitted to the Conference immediately after the signature of the Peace Treaty, but the Commission confined itself to passing the second resolution attached to the draft convention.

In conclusion, it should be remarked that after a long discussion on the question of adopting certain measures in the interest of seamen, the Commission thought that "the very special questions concerning the minimum conditions to be accorded to seamen might be dealt with at a special meeting of the International Labor Conference devoted exclusively to the affairs of seamen," at which the Delegates and technical advisers could accordingly be chosen from the shipping community. (See resolution attached to the Convention.)

PART 2. LABOR CLAUSES

The Commission were unanimous in thinking that their work would not be complete if it were simply confined to setting up a

permanent machinery for International Labor Legislation. It was not within their competence or within their terms of reference to deal with specific questions relating to industrial conditions and to work them out with the detail necessary for the framing of proposals which could be accepted in a binding form. So impressed were they, however, with the urgent need for recognizing explicitly certain fundamental principles as necessary to social progress, that they decided to submit a series of declarations for insertion in the Peace Treaty. They did not feel called upon, however, to draw up a Charter containing all the reforms which may be hoped for in a more or less distant future, but confined themselves to principles the realization of which may be contemplated in the near future.

It will be seen that the High Contracting Parties are not asked to give immediate effect to them, but only to endorse them generally. It will be the duty of the International Labor Conference to examine them thoroughly and to put them in the form of recommendations or draft conventions elaborated with the detail necessary for their practical application.

Proposals were placed before the Commission by the Italian, French, American, Belgian and British Delegations as to the declarations which should be made. The Commission decided that no declaration should be submitted to the Peace Conference, unless it were adopted by a two-thirds majority, and it now has the honor of submitting nine declarations, all of which obtained such a majority and some of which were adopted unanimously.

It should be added, in conclusion, that a majority, but not a two-thirds majority, was obtained for a proposal couched in very general terms which suggested the application to agriculture of the general principles of labor legislation, and which arose out of an Italian proposal in regard to the limitation of the hours of work in agriculture. The delegates who voted against this proposal were, as they explained, by no means hostile to its general idea, but they thought that a proposal in such wide terms was not suitable for inclusion among the declarations to be put forward.

3. DRAFT CONVENTION

A Draft Convention Creating a Permanent Organization for the Promotion of the International Regulation of Labor Conditions.

PREAMBLE

WHEREAS, the League of Nations has for its object the establishment of universal peace, and such a peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice;

And whereas conditions of labor exist involving such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled; and an improvement of those conditions is urgently required: as, for example, by the regulation of the hours of work, including the establishment of a maximum working day and week, the regulation of the labor supply, the prevention of unemployment, the provision of an adequate living wage, the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment, the protection of children, young persons and women, provision for old age and injury, protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own, recognition of the principle of freedom of association, the organization of technical and vocational education and other

measures;

Whereas also the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labor is an obstacle in the way of other nations which desire to improve the conditions in their own countries; The High Contracting Parties, moved by sentiments of justice and humanity, as well as by the desire to secure the permanent peace of the world, agree to the following convention:

CHAPTER I. Organization

ARTICLE I

The High Contracting Parties, being the States members of the League of Nations, hereby decide to establish a permanent organization for the promotion of the objects set forth in the Preamble, and for this purpose hereby accept the provisions contained in the following Articles.