The "So-Called League"

The Soviet Government accepted an invitation from the League of Nations to attend a conference at Geneva after the Pan-American Conference (which begins March 25). The object of the conference will be to discuss the desirability of extending the Washington arms agreement to all nonparticipant states.

In accepting the League's invitation Tchitcherin (Foreign Minister) made the following four points :

" (1) Soviet disapproval of the League of Nations continues.

" (2) The Soviet is a partisan of anything that may lead to reduction of armaments, as shown by its attitude at Genoa and Lausanne and the convocation of the Moscow disarmament conference of border states.

" (3) The Soviet expresses complete readiness to participate in this or any other conference for the purpose of disarmament, but regards it simply as a conference of separate states--not as a conference of the League of Nations.

" (4) Though the agenda of the proposed conference only speaks of participation by members of the so-called league, the Soviet considers participation by Russia and all other states both desirable and necessary."