File No. 511.4A1/1481.
The Secretary of State to Delegate Van Dyke.
Washington, June 24, 1914.
Your June 23. You may inform Dr. Loudon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, that if it is not possible to secure the agreement of all the powers to put the Convention into effect, it would seem to this Government to be especially desirable that, in view of Chapter Four of the International Opium Convention, all those powers having treaty relations with China should agree to put the Convention into effect. If in your opinion and in the opinion of the Netherlands Government the Convention is likely to become abortive, you may concur in the proposal of the Netherlands Delegation to put into effect the Convention among as many powers as are disposed to assent to it, but in any case it should be made effective by all the powers that have signed. You may inform the Conference of the attitude of this Government and at the same time express this Government’s hope that the dissenting powers will in due course express their willingness to cooperate with the signatory powers by ratifying the Convention, and provision should be made for subsequent ratifications as they may occur.