File No. 763.72114/3154
The Secretary of War ( Baker) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 4, 1918.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 15, 1917, in which you suggest the inexpediency, from a political point of view, of holding a conference between delegates representing the Governments of the United States and Germany for the purpose of concluding a general agreement covering all questions governing the treatment of prisoners of war, and wherein the opinion of the War Department is desired as to the advisability of covering these questions by separate agreements, or by one general agreement.
The War Department is of belief that, if possible, all of the points covering the treatment of prisoners of war should be combined in one general agreement and it is suggested that the proposed drafts for reciprocal agreements governing the transmission of mail, money orders and parcels for prisoners of war, as well as the privileges to be granted to the diplomatic representative of the protecting power covering the inspection of prison camps, that were previously sent you from this Department be not considered, and it is further suggested that the attached proposed agreement1 covering all of the questions to be settled be substituted therefor.
Respectfully,
- Not printed.↩