867.12/30
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Howard)47
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of July 21, 1924, in which, acting in behalf of the Government of His Britannic Majesty and in concert with your French and Italian colleagues, you invited the Government of the United States to appoint a delegate to represent it on the Commission to be established, under Article 116 of the Treaty of Peace signed at Lausanne on July 24, 1923, between Turkey and the Allied Powers, for the settlement of questions incident to the liquidation of the former sanitary administration in Turkey.
I desire to express to you my appreciation of your courtesy in inviting the Government of the United States to designate a member of the Commission to which you refer. Having regard to the circumstances of the former participation of the United States with other Powers in the regulation of sanitary affairs in the Ottoman Empire, this Government would naturally desire to observe the work of the Commission and to have such voice in its decisions as American interests may seem to require. It is noted, however, that under the Treaty Article mentioned above the final authority on the questions presented to the Commission is to be the Council of the League of Nations, a body on which the United States is not represented. Such being the case, this Government could not appropriately designate a member of the Commission with authority to participate in its decisions. I shall be pleased, however, if such a course is agreeable to the Governments concerned, to designate a representative to sit with the Commission in a consultative capacity and should occasion arise to enter appropriate reservations regarding any American interests that may be disclosed.
Accept [etc.]
- The same, mutatis mutandis, to the French and Italian Chargés.↩