THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

should be added to the proposed covenant for the League o£
Nations providing for the establishment of an organ to deal
with international intellectual relations. It was not discussed
and Hymans withdrew it. 22 On February 5, Otlet and La Fontaine
on behalf of the UIA presented the Conference with a.
memorandum, «The Charter of Intellectual and Moral Interests*.
In this they spelled out their belief in the need for the
League of Nations to take under its protection institutions and
associations dealing with cultural matters. They suggested
that an International Council for Intellectual Interests should
be set up, and act as one of the organs of the League. They
reaffirmed their belief that the international associationsshould
act as a kind of superior, expert, cosultative council for
administrative unions and for the officers of the League. They
urged that the League, when set up, should sponsor a law ta
give non-governmental international associations the legal status
they now lacked. Moreover they reiterated their view that
the League should take up its headquarters in a capital whose
site would be «internationalised» and removed from the jurisdiction
of any State. 23
For various reasons the Conference did not act on the
UIA memorandum. 24 But Otlet continued to publicise aspects
of it. Even before the Conference opened he published an article
in Scientia on «the Intellectual Society of Nations». 2b Late
in 1919 he published «A World Intellectual Center at the Service
of the League of Nations». 26 The problem of the capital of
the League, one that had exercised him before the War, was.
taken up separately. 27 It was inevitable that he should eventually
join those who, led by Paul Humans, vigorously asserted
the claim of Brussels to the seat of the League, 28 and continue
to press for this even after Geneva had been chosen. 291
This was not as belated as it may seem because the Covenant
of the League reserved the right to the League of changing its
headquarters should it so desire. Indeed, Morley contends
that it was «not until the laying of the cornerstone of the permanent
League buildings on September 7, 1929» that it could
be said that «the Swiss city would continue to be the seat of
the League». 30
BRUSSELS, THE LEAGUE, THE GOVERNMENT,
DEWEY
When Otlet and La Fontaine returned to Brussels togather
up the threads of their work, they did not face the
heartbreakingly difficult task of reconstruction which must
have confronted many returning from the War. Masure, with
justifiable pride, had managed to keep the OIB-IIB open and
intact during the German occupation. As he later informed the
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