What Work did the League of Nations do?
The League of Nations was an association of countries intended to bring about world peace and co-operation. It was formed in 1920, following the first World War.
Although the United States did not belong to the League, the plan for it was originated by President Wilson, who thought the world was civilized enough to find some other method of settling disputes besides war. When the League was finally established the United States preferred not to join, fearing that to do so might involve the country in the affairs of foreign nations.
Beginning with forty-two nations, the membership reached its peak in 1935, with sixty. After that time membership in the League steadily declined. World War II dealt it a staggering blow; it has now become practically a dead letter. One League organization - the International Labor Office, or ILO - still carries on.
Although the League of Nations is now, so to speak, a relic of the past, it did many good things. When a dispute between Finland and Sweden threatened to destroy the peace of Europe, the League intervened. It made peace in a disagreement between Italy and Greece, and later between Bulgaria and Greece, and between Great Britain and Turkey who were quarreling about Mosul and Iraq. When the murder of King Alexander of Yugoslavia nearly provoked war between that country and Hungary, the League prevented hostilities.
It did much toward the suppression of the sale of opium; fostered better health laws; improved labor conditions, and helped rebuild the finances of various poverty-stricken countries.
Some of the most valuable work of the League before 1939 was in collecting and telling the world facts on plagues and epidemics. If customs officials knew that a certain plague was spreading in a district, they could take steps to see that the disease was not carried across the borders.
The United Nations Organization, formed at the close of World War II hopes to succeed where the League failed’, and to build a peace that will last.
