But when these gentlemen got to work upon such questions as reduction of
armaments, they at once found themselves dealing with matters entirely
beyond their competence, because into this problem enter problems of
high politics and finance, and a thousand other questions of which
soldiers, sailors, and airmen know nothing whatever.


THE LEAGUE'S COMMISSION

The first step was to remedy an oversight in the machinery, and that was
done at the first meeting of the Assembly. The first meeting of the
Assembly created a temporary mixed commission on armaments, which was
composed of persons of recognised competence in political, social, and
economic matters. It consisted of six members of the old Permanent
Commission, and in addition a number of statesmen, employers, and
representatives of labour. This body started to tackle this grave
question. Before it began the first Assembly of the League had suggested
one line of approach--that there should be an agreement to limit
expenditure; that an attempt should be made to limit armaments by
limiting budgets; and nations were asked to agree that they would not
exceed in the two years following the acceptance of the resolution the
budgeted expenditure on armaments of the current year.

That proposal did not meet with great success. It was turned down by
seven Powers, notably by France and Spain. On the whole, I think France
and Spain and the other Powers had some reason on their side, because it
is not possible to approach this problem solely from the financial
standpoint. You cannot get a financial common denominator and apply it
to armaments. The varying costs of a soldier in Europe and in Japan have
no relation to each other. The cost of a voluntary soldier in Great