the freedom from interference by local laws and local officials conferred by universal custom upon ambassadors and embassies in foreign lands. In order to ensure for the League complete independence from influence and pressure by any great nation, and still more from any suspicion of such influence, it was wise to place the seat of the League in a small and traditionally neutral country. No better place could have been selected than Geneva.

(Letter No. 11)

ARTICLE VIII

By Article VIII the League members expressly declare that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations. Taking account of the geographical situation and circumstances of each state, the Council is to formulate plans for such reduction for the consideration and action of the several governments. The League members agree to exchange full information as to the scale of their armaments, their military and naval programmes and their warlike industries. After adoption by the several governments of the plan of reduction, the limits of armaments therein fixed are not to be exceeded without the concurrence of the Council. The plans are to be reconsidered and revised

at least every ten years. The League members agree that the manufacture by private enterprise of munitions and implements of war is open to grave objections and the council is to advise how these evils can be prevented.

This is the first of the four great steps toward securing permanent peace in the League Constitution and is as important as any. One of the great factors in bringing on this war and in making it what it was, was the race in armaments between the European nations. Prussia under Bismarck perfected its military establishment by winning three wars, first against Denmark, secondly against Austria and then against France—thus the German Empire was made in 1871. From that time on, the German armament has been increased and has kept pace with the growth of German desire for world domination. A thorough and drastic system of conscription, military training and reserves, built up the German military establishment so that it was a perfect machine and far more formidable than that of any other government. Fear of it prompted every conti

nental nation not in alliance with Germany to enlarge its armament. Germany's allies, Austria and Italy, joined in the race at her instance. Thus these huge war establishments went on increasing from decade to decade. After a time, Germany acquired naval ambition, and then the race began between her and Great Britain.

The evils

The inevitable result of all of this with its intent was war and war came. may be easily summarized.

First: Grievous burdens of taxation were imposed upon the peoples of the competing countries. Their producing capacity was seriously impaired by consuming three years of the best producing part of the lives of their young men.

Second: Consciousness of the power of such a military establishment produced a truculence and bullying tendency on the part of Germany who kept ahead in the race. The Kaiser flaunted to the world the diplomatic triumphs he achieved by standing forth in his "shining armour." His military machine and his knowledge of the defects of the Russian and French machines led him

to improve the occasion of the AustrianSerbian difficulty to seek war before the defects of his rivals could be supplied. Thus the race of armament brought on this war.

Third: The growth of these enormous armaments under such conditions have made this war the most destructive in history. Peoples and civilizations have been the objects of attack, not armies merely. The killing of non-combatants, old men, women and children and the permanent devastation of enemy country have been features of the German campaigns and all because the vast military preparations and the organization of suitable machinery naturally led to this method of winning lasting victory and permanent conquest.

This succession of causes with the result is bound to recur again unless the great powers of the world lead all nations to suppress such dangerous competition. The end is to be achieved so far as Germany, Austria and Turkey are concerned by compulsory terms of peace. The drastic provisions of the treaty just presented to the Germans for their signature leave no doubt on this point.