Vital Protocol

Whenever the League of Nations holds an important international conference, the U. S. and Soviet Russia are invited to send "observers," and, while the U. S. usually accepts, the Soviet Government has steadfastly refused, these past four years.

The reason is that during the Lausanne Conference of 1923 (at Lausanne, Switzerland) the Russian representative, M. Vaslav Vorovsky, was assassinated. His alleged assassin was acquitted by a Swiss Court. For four years the Swiss Government has refused the kind of apology demanded by the Soviet Government. Ergo, no Soviet "observers" have come to League Conferences.

For four years earnest attempts have been made to relieve the stress of this situation, a stress inimical to the peace of the world. The Swiss have offered to sign a note apologizing "sincerely." The Russians have held out for "emphatically."

In Moscow, last week, "emphatically" was inserted in a Russo-Swiss protocol resuming diplomatic relations between these countries.