ABSTRACT
Figure 18.1 The League of Nations’ regular economic publications 247 Figure 18.2 Agreements in the economic and social fields 1921-37 248 Figure 18.3 The International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (1926) 252 Figure 18.4 The later development of the Bank for International Settlements (1930) 258 Figure 18.5 The British Commonwealth of 1931 260 Figure 18.6 Specialized Pan-American and Inter-American institutions 262
Allied war councils
During the First World War the Allied powers had already set up various means of cooperation. As early as August 1914 the Commission internationale de ravitaillement was created to coordinate the purchases of the Allied powers in the UK. Two years later, purchases for their civil requirements were also placed under a common structure. The Wheat Executive, established in November 1916, acted as an inter-Allied commission for the joint purchase of wheat supplies. The aim was ‘to arrange for the wheat supplies (and later for all cereals) of all countries to be bought together and allotted by agreement’ (Hill 1946, 14). These ‘war councils’ are perfect examples of cooperation among the Allied states in specific areas. In December 1917 the Allied Maritime Transport Council was founded to ensure the most efficient use possible of the available means of transport. For planning in other areas Programme Committees were set up. In time these merged to form larger bodies such as the Inter-Allied Munitions Council and the Inter-Allied Food Council. None of these bodies had direct powers of implementation, however. The Transport Council was made up of two ministers from each of the European states involved and two delegates from the US. A group of experts from the UK, the US,
France and Italy carried out its administrative tasks. It was this ‘personal integration of the national administrations rather than any formal delegation of executive power (which indeed has been expressly withheld) which accounted for the strength, efficiency, and success of the inter-Allied economic organizations in the later stages of the first World War’ (Hill 1946, 15-16).
