Letter from A. Loveday, Director of the League of Nations Economic and Financial Section, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, to S. Lester about staff questions, work planning difficulties concerning mainly two League of Nations staff members Lukac and R.M.F. Charron, as well as difficulties he had to plan his own work since some decisions were taken without prior reference to him as Director.
Extract from A. Loveday's letter to S. Lester on S. Jacklin's wild anti-Axis statements; extract from a letter from Elsie to her husband S. Lester to request his help for an old lady, her neighbour, whose sister-in-law, the husband of whom had been killed, was in a difficult situation in France.
Dr. Karl Barth's lecture entitled "Au nom de Dieu Tout-Puissant", words used in the Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, Professor of Theology at Basle University, although a Swiss, he was one of those who led the battle of the Protestant Church in Germany in the early days of national-socialism, his lecture was on the Swiss alternative: either resist Germany, suffer but keep freedom and honour, or not resist Germany, keep security, work and money, etc. but lose freedom, honour and go back on their neutrality; S. Lester compared the latter attitude with the one of Berne towards the League of Nations, cowardly refusing to pay their contribution because Germany would not like it.
Extract from C.J. Hambro's letter to S. Lester, further to S. Lester's request of the minutes (strictly confidential) of some discussions C.J. Hambro and others had at a meeting, in which S. Jacklin participated.
André Maurois' writing: "Tragedy in France"; remedies of S. Lester's English friend on the causes of the collapse of a country.
Elizabeth Wiskeman, "Press Attaché" in London, returned to the British Legation; S. Lester, tired of her, said "no Englishman (or woman) should open his mouth about Ireland", however her books were interesting.
S. Lester's comments in reply to A. Sweetser's letter about publicity made on the League of Nations: no mention about the difficulties S. Lester faced to maintain the League of Nations headquarters at Geneva and get enough money to carry on vital technical activities, no mention about the fact that the more efforts made for economies and they were tremendous, the more they demanded; for publicity two things are needed: one is work or results and the other is an adequate press service, but the second is absolutely useless without the former; no mention about the fact that nothing mattered that was not on the American continent; Welles' speech was almost the only public declaration by any statesman on the League of Nations; for governments the decline in activity and importance of the League of Nations was more striking than what had been kept and what had been done; S. Lester wished the Supervisory Commission to visit Geneva.
US paper report on Ireland entitled "Eire faced a difficult winter" 1941: Eire had to face food rationed, shortages of coal, gasoline, electric power, cars, etc., rising of unemployment and a cold winter.
Radiogramm to S. Lester.
Call from Harrison, USA Minister, to ask S. Lester to stay at the Legation; beastliness stories on Jews in Rumania reported by Megahle, Portuguese Minister to the League of Nations, in post in Bukharest.