(2 of 2)
New Business. The commission also prepare the agenda for the first sessions of the world organization, plan and perhaps set up the all-important secretariat, and call for nominations to the new International Court of Justice.
The commission had the touchy job of picking a permanent world headquarters. The British favored Copenhagen, the Russians Prague. The U.S. Government had kept discreetly mum. But the feeling in Washington was that San Francisco stood a good chance, Philadelphia a very poor one. The reasons were enough to enrage all Philadelphians: the climate was deplored, the City of Brotherly Love was entirely too close to Washington (too much U.S. influence) and New York (Wall Street, etc.). Perhaps prematurely, everybody had long since counted out Geneva.
*Dues are computed in gold francs, worth 32.8¢ apiece. In the 1945 budget the United Kingdom was down for the largest contribution: 2,697,825 gold francs.