500.A15 a 1/545a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to President Coolidge
I gave the following statement to the Press this morning concerning the final session of the Conference:
“I regret of course that the Geneva Conference did not succeed in making an agreement for limitation of naval armament. The Conference was suggested by the President in the hope that he could accomplish a real reduction in building programs. He also believed if the three great naval powers could succeed in such limitation it would prevent competitive building, lift enormous burdens from the countries involved, and be a great moral example to the world. We believed that there was no condition today which could threaten the security of the powers interested or justify increased building programs. It was found impossible to get an agreement either to reduce naval armament or to limit it within what we considered reasonable bounds. What was sought was to extend the principles of the Washington treaty to other naval auxiliary craft. This was found impossible without [Page 156] greatly enhancing a cruiser building program, which we thought neither necessary nor wise. I do not think the United States can afford to give its moral approval to such an expansion with all it implies. We proposed as a maximum 300,000 tons of cruisers and were not prepared to increase this by 126,000 tons and probably more in order to make a treaty. Pursuant to the Washington treaty, the United States made drastic cuts in its capital ship program and scrapped the largest capital ship navy in the world. It made greater sacrifices than any other country; in fact it scrapped 780,000 tons of capital ships. It had every reason to believe that the British government was prepared to carry out a real reduction and our delegates labored earnestly and conscientiously along these lines. Japan was anxious to go even lower than the maximum set by the United States. I do not believe, however, that the general discussions which have taken place at Geneva will be fruitless and I am certain that the failure at this time to enter into an agreement will not impair the cordial relations existing between the British Government and the United States. I do not consider the failure to make an agreement now as final; and I am confident that the work done at Geneva will make it possible after consultation between the governments to find a basis for reconciling the divergent views and lead to the early conclusion of an agreement for the limitation of auxiliary naval vessels.”