Midwife to the Millennium

London's red-brick Church House, a relic of Queen Victoria's jubilee and once a haven for the bombed-out House of Commons, was being readied for another transient tenant.

This time Church House was to be the temporary home of the preparatory commission which would serve as midwife to the new world organization called the United Nations. How and where the United Nations would begin to function was largely up to the commission. The first steps were well along last week.

Wanted: a Title. Edward R. Stettinius Jr., U.S. member of the commission and U.S. representative in the world organization, had moved out of the State Department and taken over a quiet office in the left wing of the White House. He already had a small staff, would have a larger one as the organization and his work grew.

One thing he lacked: a handy, resonant title. "Representative" was obviously ambiguous; he may have the rank of ambassador, but that would hardly do for a working title.

Stettinius had decided to pass up the meeting of the preparatory commission's executive committee in London early next month, let someone else (probably a U.S. official already in London) represent him. The State Department's young Alger Hiss, able Secretary General of the San Francisco Conference, had declined the honor. So had Hiss's colleague, Leo Pasvolsky, who dotes on world affairs but dislikes travel. Stettinius expected to see the Charter through the Senate, stay in the U.S. until the full commission gathers in London in September.

Old Business. One of the commission's chores would be to sweep up what was left of the last attempt at world organization, the League of Nations. Although eclipsed by the war, the League was still a reality. Forty-four nations were still enrolled as dues-paying members.* The League still owned a white limestone palace and other buildings in Geneva worth $30 million, a treasury of $15 million, a vast and valuable library, a staff of 120 highly trained in the intricacies of international affairs.

Beyond its political functions the League served many purposes which the new organization must encompass, supervising such international concerns as health, welfare, education, drugs, slavery and intellectual cooperation. The choice of which. to drop, which to continue and how to make the transfer was one of the commission's big jobs.

The League's Assembly was almost certain to meet concurrently in London. A committee would be named to negotiate the League's demise. An active pallbearer would be Secretary General Sean Lester, whose Irish charm might do much to salvage bits of the League. Later another meeting would be held in Geneva to release members from the Covenant.

A parallel problem for the commission would be the future of other intergovernmental agreements and bodies such as the International Labor Organization. The British wanted to incorporate the I.L.O. into the new organization. There was strong opposition from Russia, which was expelled from the I.L.O. in 1940 after she attacked Finland; less opposition from the U.S. and others. Large sections of organized labor opposed the I.L.O. because of its tripartite representation (labor, management, government).

New Business. The commission also prepare the agenda for the first sessions of the world organization, plan and perhaps set up the all-important secretariat, and call for nominations to the new International Court of Justice.

The commission had the touchy job of picking a permanent world headquarters. The British favored Copenhagen, the Russians Prague. The U.S. Government had kept discreetly mum. But the feeling in Washington was that San Francisco stood a good chance, Philadelphia a very poor one. The reasons were enough to enrage all Philadelphians: the climate was deplored, the City of Brotherly Love was entirely too close to Washington (too much U.S. influence) and New York (Wall Street, etc.). Perhaps prematurely, everybody had long since counted out Geneva.

*Dues are computed in gold francs, worth 32.8-c- apiece. In the 1945 budget the United Kingdom was down for the largest contribution: 2,697,825 gold francs.

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