THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

finished, «both for the reputation of the League and of your
own Union». u In September Nitobe was sent the pages of
what was intended as the first fascicule and was informed
that «measures have been taken for soon finishing the Code». l2:
It was, however, not issued in fascicules. The first volume,,
over 900 pages in length, was eventually published in 1923 IS
and no subsequent volumes appeared.
In late August 1922, the Third Quinzaine Internationale
was held. It was a rather small affair compared with its
predecessors. A third session of the International University
took place and 72 professors gave 96 lectures on 80 subjects. 14
The main business, however, was the Conference for the
Development of the Institutes of the Palais Mondial. The
Minister for Foreign Affairs had agreed to transmit through
his department invitations to the Conference from the UIA
to nominated governments, and Diplomatic representatives
(mostly minor embassy officials) from sixteen countries and
the League of Nations met in Brussels from the 20th to the
22nd August with Otlet, La Fontaine and a representative of
the Belgian Government. Ernest Cushing Richardson, the American
librarian, was also present. There were no representatives
from any of the major European powers. Before the
delegates was the text of a draft convention which would place
the Palais Mondial as an official international organisation
under the protection of the nations who would sign it. Briefly,
the draft provided that the management of the new organisation
be left to the UIA under the overall supervision of an
International Commission. The members of the Commission
were to be drawn either from national commissions created
by individual governments for the purpose, or from specially
designated organisations already existing. The budget was to
derive from contributions from participating states determined
in a manner similar to that used for determining and allocating
the budget of the Universal Postal Convention. Contributions
from governments would be augmented by subscriptions,
donations or other funds as available. The League of
Nations was to be asked to offer its patronage to the newly
constituted Palais Mondial in terms of Article 24 of its
Covenant, and would be invited to be represented on its International
Commission. Furthermore, participants in the Conference
were asked
to take into serious consideration the project presented to them of an
International City to be erected on the occasion of an approaching
Universal Exposition. The City would be foimed from pavilions erected
by each country involved in the Exposition and from buildings
established for the international institutions grouped around the
Palais Mondial.
The Exposition referred to had recently been announced by the
Belgian Government for 1930, the year of Belgium's Centennial
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