4081 UNIVERSAL HISTORY-THE MODERN WORLD.
the members of the League, shall be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.
A permanent commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual
reports of the mandataries and to advise the
Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.
ARTICLE XXIII.
Subject to and in accordance with the
provisions of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the
members of the League (a) will endeavor to
secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and children, both in their own countries and in all
countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend, and for that purpose will establish and maintain the necessary international organizations; (b) undertake to secure just treatment of the native
inhabitants of territories under their control; (c) will intrust the League with the
general supervision over the execution of
agreements with regard to the traffic in
women and children and the traffic in
opium and other dangerous drugs; (d) will
intrust the League with the general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunition
with the countries in which the control of
this traffic is necessary in the common interest; (e) will make provision to secure and
maintain freedom of communication and of
transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all members of the League. In this
connection the special necessities of the
regions devastated during the war of 1914-18 shall be in mind; (f) will endeavor to take
steps in matters of international concern
for the prevention and control of disease.
ARTICLE XXIV.
There shall be placed under the direction
of the League all international bureaus already established by general treaties if the
parties to such treaties consent. All such
international bureaus and all commissions
for the regulation of matters of international
interest hereafter constituted shall be placed
under the direction of the League.
In all matters of international interest
which are regulated by general conventions,
but which are not placed under the control
of international bureaus or commissions, the
Secretariat of the League shall, subject to
the consent of the Council, and if desired
by the parties, collect and distribute all
relevant information and shall render any
other assistance which may be necessary or
desirable.
The Council may include as part of the
expenses of the Secretariat the expenses of
any bureau or commission which is placed
under the direction of the League.
ARTICLE XXV.
The members of the League agree to
encourage and promote the establishment
and cooperation of duly authorized voluntary national Red Cross organizations
having as purposes the improvement of
health, the prevention of disease, and the
mitigation of suffering throughout the
world.
ARTICLE XXVI.
Amendments to this covenant will take
effect when ratified by the members of the
League, whose representatives compose the
Council and by a majority of the members
of the League whose representatives compose the Assembly.
No such amendment shall bind any
member of the League which signifies its
dissent therefrom, but in that case it shall
cease to be a member of the League.
ANNEX TO THE COVENANT
1. Original members of the League of
Nations.
Signatories of the Treaty of Peace:
United States of America, Belgium,
Bolivia, Brazil, British Empire, Canada,
Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India,
China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador,
France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hedjaz,
Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua,
Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania,
Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Siam, Uruguay.
States invited to accede to the covenant:
Argentine Republic, Chile, Colombia,
Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay,
Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela.
II. First Secretary General of the League
of Nations: Sir Eric Drummond.