364 J.-A. PEMBERTON
A Joint meeting of tHe economic And finAnciAl
committees
Not long before he attended the meeting of the committee charged with
organising the proposed Central Committee for Economic and Social
Questions at The Hague in February 1940, McDougall sent a letter to
John H. Willits, director of the Social Sciences Division of the Rockefeller
Foundation. According to Way, McDougall sought in his letter budgetary
assistance for the LON secretariat in light of the fact that its funding had
been severely cut at the previous assembly.^47 It is worth noting here that
according to Walters, despite the cut to its funding, the financial situation
of the secretariat at this time was not entirely dire:
The budget was cut to a fraction of its former figure. Even so, very few
Members continued to pay their contributions; almost the whole income
of the League was supplied by Britain and the other Commonwealth
Members, in spite of their war burdens. However, thanks to the skilful and
prudent manner in which the financial affairs of the Secretariat had been
conducted, it possessed large reserve funds. Thus a nucleus of officials was
kept together in Geneva, which continued to be the headquarters of the
Secretariat. The immense palace of the League was empty and silent, save
for a small group of offices clustered round the Secretary-General’s room,
and a still smaller group in the Rockefeller Library.^48In his letter to Willits on June 5, McDougall, who a few weeks later
would express his eagerness to see parts of the LON transferred to America,
stated that although the need to begin considering ‘the problems of post-
war reconstruction’ may not appear to be a matter of urgency, those who
felt ‘vitally concerned with this subject may be convinced that there is little
time to lose,’ and to this end he hoped that ‘decisions may be taken to pre-
serve a strong economic and social organization of the League’.^49
(^47) Way, A New Idea Each Day, 207. McDougall attended the 1939 LON Assembly as a
delegate of Australia. In Geneva, ‘he stressed the need to reduce Secretariat expenses, espe-
cially on political activity. The total League budget was cut by one-third, and League and
ILO staff agreed to accept salary reductions ranging from 2 to 20 per cent. A policy of staff
reduction would continue’ (ibid.).
(^48) Walters, A History of the League of Nations, 810.
(^49) McDougall, 1940, quoted in Way, A New Idea Each Day, 207–8. For McDougall’s
desire to see part of the League transferred to America, see ibid., 223.