Abstract

The Shape of Things

This article presents information on the decisions of the sanctions committee of the League of Nations to impose an oil embargo on Italy if Prime minister Benito Mussolini does not agree to discuss peace terms. One of the most frequently quoted excuses for America's failure to impose an embargo on the shipment of raw materials to belligerents has been that the League has not held up its share of the burden by imposing effective sanctions. At Geneva, on the other hand, the post-ponement of oil sanctions has been justified on the ground that no action could be successful as long as the United States refused to cooperate. The U.S. President's renewed appeal to American business interests not to profit from war, issued when he signed the new Neutrality Act, showed that the Administration is willing to go much farther than U.S. Congress.