500.A15 a 1/485: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Gibson)
[Paraphrase]
Washington, July 27,
1927—noon.
65. Your No. 116, July 26, 5 p.m.
- 1.
- There is nothing to be gained by entering into a two-power pact.
- 2.
- The United States will not make an agreement on destroyers and submarines unless cruisers are included also. Certainly there would be no object in our agreeing to limitation of destroyers of which we have a large number and where we should have to scrap live craft.
- 3.
- The United States will not enter into an agreement whereby 10,000-ton cruisers alone are restricted, and thus leave smaller cruisers unrestricted. Such an agreement would limit us on those cruisers we expect to build and would allow Great Britain to build an unlimited number of smaller cruisers.
- 4.
- We do not see that there is much to gain from a building program until 1931, as it is impossible for the Department to predict what the Congress will do. We should be glad to have you inform us what you have in mind on No. 4.
Kellogg