500.A15 a 1/255
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs (Marriner)
At a conference with the President this morning at 9:15 there were present the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Hugh S. Gibson, Ambassador to Belgium, Admiral Hilary P. Jones, Admiral F. H. Schofield, Mr. A. W. Dulles, Legal Adviser to the Delegation, and Mr. Marriner, Chief of the Western European Division of the State Department.
The proposal of the Navy to be laid before the Conference, prepared by the General Board as a result of the conferences in the State Department and contained in Navy’s Memorandum dated June 1, 1927, study No. 1, subject: proposals for the Geneva Conference,39 was discussed throughout and approved by the President, who stressed the importance of the adoption of the plan of combining cruiser and destroyer tonnage during the transition until the attainment of the allowed tonnages in each class in order to avoid immediate scrapping of ships under the age limit.
The President likewise inquired whether or not the Navy approved the plan as laid down and asked each of the naval members present personally whether they felt that the Navy would back a treaty arising from such a plan whole-heartedly. The replies were all in the affirmative.
In connection with a possible British proposal to reduce the size of cruisers, the President said of course that the United States could not be satisfied with a lesser number of cruisers of 10,000 tons than Great Britain but agreed that a combination limitation by tonnage and numbers could possibly be worked out which would be satisfactory in all probability to both Powers as it would give Britain the scope she desired for building smaller cruisers.
The question of possible discussion of the abolition of the submarine was also raised and the President agreed with those present that in view of the fact that only three nations were present the [Page 43] question would not be a practical one but that of course we could initiate or support any resolutions indicating our willingness to abolish the submarine when it was universally abolished.
- Not found in Department files.↩