Invitation

A crisp official envelope was posted at Geneva. Soon it was bobbing across the waves to Washington. Inclosed was an invitation from the League of Nations requesting the U. S. Government to send a representative to Geneva on Sept. 1. There and then will meet a special conference of the 48 nations adherent to the World Court, at which the reservations passed by the U. S. Senate (TIME, Feb. 8, CONGRESS) as the conditions upon which the U. S. will adhere to the World Court will be considered.

Pro. Citizens of the U. S. favorable to the League of Nations recalled a statement of Sir Austen Chamberlain that the special Court conference is a mere common sense measure designed to get swift action upon the U. S. Senate's reservations by the nations already adherent to the World Court.

Con. Administration news organs throughout the U. S. reported in a tone of irony bordering upon sarcasm that the President considers the League's invitation most courteous. They positively asserted that the President would refuse this invitation, since he indicated clearly that the U. S. Government expects to deal with each of the Court-adherent states separately. The President further indicated that the Senate's reservations must be accepted or rejected as they stand.

The Significance. Only U. S. Senate reservation No. 5 is of extreme concern to the Court-adherent nations. That reservation demands, as a condition of U. S. adherence, that the Court shall not render any advisory opinion affecting any question in which the U. S. has an interest unless the U. S. consents. "What does that mean?" cry European diplomats. "What authority is to decide whether a given question is one in which the U. S. has an interest? Does the U. S. claim the right to make this decision herself? If so, what question can possibly come up in which the U. S. might not claim to have an interest?"

Impartial observers opined that a U. S. interpreter of the Senate's meaning would be persona grata at Geneva. He would also be practically certain to find himself in hot water on returning to the U. S.