To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.
This statement reminds me somewhat of the "White Man's Burden" in that less developed groups of people were believed to be in need of assistance and stability. Although the context of the "White Man's Burden" was vastly different, it is clear that the winners of World War I gave themselves political and economic power over the colonial territories of the losers of the war, whether these territories accepted their help or not.