James G. Mcdonald Named by League Council High Commissioner for German Refugee Work

The Council of the League of Nations today officially invited James G. McDonald to become High Commissioner for German refugees. Mr. McDonald, who is chairman of the Foreign Policy Association, of New York, was notified of the appointment.

The candidacy of Lord Robert Cecil for the post, which had been under consideration together with that of former President Hoover, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and others, was withdrawn at the last moment as a result of German diplomatic manouevering, but there is a possibility that Lord Cecil will become chairman of the governing body of the refugee commission.

The League Council also issued a formal invitation to the governments of the Netherlands, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Britain, Sweden, the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to name representatives on the governing body.

As soon as the members of the governing body are appointed, a decision will be made as to the names and number of private organizations which will be asked to cooperate with the commission.

The American government informed the League that it has accepted the invitation to name a representative on the refugee body.

The support of the Labor Office of the League was pledged at a meeting for the autonomous governing body which is to administer the problems of German refugees.

It is uncertain whether the office of the high commissioner for German refugees will be located in Geneva, although the rapporteur for the Council of the League of Nations informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, that under all circumstances, the office will be in Switzerland.

Germany, which withdrew from the League recently, is using Italy as a means of influencing the League to establish the high commissioner’s office in Zurich, Switzerland. Germany is anxious to give the refugee office as little political character as possible.