WORLD COURT: Second Betrothal

WORLD COURT In the nine years of its existence, the Permanent Court of International Justice —offspring of the League of Nations—has been the subject of mountainous reams of essay, interminable hours of debate. It has rendered just 17 judgments. In 1920 U. S. Minister to Switzerland Pleasant A. Stovall signed World Court articles of adherence for the U. S. Government, only to have, the U. S. Senate place so many reservations on U. S. participation that other member nations refused to accept the Stovall signature.

Last week the spotlight of world attention focused on another U. S. diplomat. With his pockets stuffed with authorizations from President Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson, Jay Pierrepont Moffat, U. S. Chargé D'Affaires at Berne,* traveled from London to Geneva to sign World Court articles of adherence once more.

Diplomatist Moffat, plump, pleasant, pompous, is no nobody. He is the socialite scion of the three venerable Manhattan families whose names he bears, a Harvard graduate, a son-in-law of U. S. Ambassador to Turkey Joseph Clark Grew. Succeeding Laura Harlan as social secretary to the White House in the Coolidge Administration, he held that delicate post until its duties were transferred to a division of protocol in the state department. Attaché Moffat's most important previous diplomatic work was with the U. S. Legation in Warsaw during Soviet Russia's brief attempt to conquer Poland in 1920—days that brought him in touch with Herbert Hoover and Cardinal Achille Ratti, now Pope Pius XI. In a dingy Geneva office, proudly titled the Treaty Registration Room of the League of Nations Secretariat, he carefully signed three state papers, then retired to Berne.

These signings were really a triumph for ancient and honorable Elihu Root, U. S. elder statesman who spent a furious fortnight last March smoothing World Court-U. S. differences, drafting the Root Formula (TIME, April 1) which in effect left the U. S. entirely free to divorce the World Court instantly at any time after the final diplomatic marriage takes place. The marriage is not yet, the signature of Attaché Moffat was a mere betrothal. There remains U. S. Senate ratification. Washington wiseacres wagered that another year would pass before this is achieved.