THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

hard and hopefully he did. During January he and La Fontaine
prepared a draft convention for an international organisation
for intellectual labour, copies of which were sent off in
early February to Drummond and Nitobe, together with
various persuasive letters to members of the Council. «We have
drawn inspiration*, they reported to Drummond, «from the
texts of resolutions voted and of articles contained in the
conventions which have created the different technical organisations
of the League». They also suggested that the Union
of International Associations «be charged with the physical
preparation* of the conference that would need to be called
to discuss their draft in order to prepare one formally for
the League's Assembly. This conference, they observed, should
«be held in Brussels in the middle even of those institutions
which it is asked to elevate to the degree of international
•establishments attached to the League of Nations*. 35
Nitobe warned them of various difficulties their proposals
would encounter, 30 but this did not prepare them for the
report which was adopted by the Council at its meeting in
Paris on the 1st March, 1921. 37 In this report were discussed
the various matters raised in the Assembly's recommendations
to the Council in 1920 in relation to the UlA. The rapporteur,
the Spanish representative, Quinones de Leon, summarised
the League's relations with the UIA. He referred to the subsidy
granted to the UIA to publish the Code des Voeux as fulfilling
that part of Article 24 of the League's Covenant involving
it in non-governmental international organisations, and observed
that to fulfil the Assembly's charge concerning Article 24,
more of such assistance «in the same line and in the same
spirit* should be granted as more and more demands were
made upon the League as confidence grew in it. He referred
to the encouragement given by the Council to the International
University, although formal patronage had been denied it. The
report submitted to the Council on the work of the University's
first session, he observed, made it evident that it had
«achieved considerable results*. As for Otlet and La Fontaine,
«the Council will not stint their admiration for the high spirit
which guided them in this enterprise*. In view of a proposal
to hold a second session of the University later in 1921, de
Leon thought that «if the Council still view it with approval
and interest, it will perhaps authorise the Secretary-General
to render such assistance as lies within his power*. He pointed
out that the Assembly's request to the Council for a report on
the educational influence of the UIA had been accepted and
would be presented at the next meeting of the Assembly.
Finally, he dealt with the Assembly's request that the Council
report on the idea of creating an international organisation
for intellectual labour to be attached to the League.
235