Visits of Laval and Grandi Show Inadequacy of Diplomatic Machinery, Emerson Says--Cannot Take Place of League

The following article was written for the Crimson by Rupert Emerson '21, Assistant Professor of Government.

The visits of Premier Laval and Foreign Minister Grandi to this country are a clear proof, if further proof is necessary, that in the modern structure of the world American isolation is an impossibility. We are in the midst of world affairs and we find it increasingly necessary to act in close co-operation with other States. When these visits are taken in conjunction with the relation that has been established between the United States and the League in connection with the Manchurian dispute it becomes evident that the United States has in large part already abandoned any strictly isolationist policy.

Furthermore the visits may be taken to indicate that for the closely-knit world of the present day the ordinary machinery of diplomacy is not able to deal adequately with the actual problems presented. It is necessary to establish closer relations between the executive heads of States than can be furnished through the usual channels of diplomatic intercourse. For the Great Powers, other than the United States and the U.S.S.R., and in general for the members of the League, such closer relations are created and maintained through the instrumentality of the League, where the heads of States regularly get together to discuss their common problems.

Although very little is known as to the actual results of the conversations held in Washington it would probably be idle to expect too much from them. Formal discussion for a period of two or three days can scarcely do much to unravel complicated situations that have been years in the making. Both the time element and the general situation hardly allow of more than the presentation on each side of the national position of the statesmen involved in the discussion, and surely do not allow of any thoroughgoing examination of thorny problems followed by an attempt to arrive at an acceptable solution.