711.842/18a
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: This commercial treaty with Ethiopia, which was signed on June 7 [27], 1914, and ratified by you September [Page 243] 19, 1914, stipulates that it “shall take effect if ratified by the Government of the United States, and that this ratification shall be notified to His Royal Highness Prince Lidj Yassou, successor of Menelik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia within the period of six months.” This notification was given on December 20, 1914, within the limitation specified in the treaty, and the treaty has been in effect since that day. It has not, however, been heretofore proclaimed, owing to the fact, as has been explained to me, that the notice of fulfillment of the requirement abovementioned was inadvertently placed in the Department’s files and buried without being brought to the knowledge of the proper office. It has, by accident, just been brought to light. While, as stated, the treaty has been in effect since December 24, 1914, it is thought that all formalities should now be completed by your proclamation of it,3 in order that it may appear in the Statutes at Large as a proclaimed treaty.
Faithfully yours,
- It had, however, been proclaimed on Aug. 9, 1920.↩