711.5112France/272
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Olds) of a Conversation With the Counselor of the French Embassy (Sartiges), April 20, 1928
Count de Sartiges called this afternoon at 4:20 and handed me the French text of the draft anti-war treaty which M. Briand is submitting for the consideration of this Government, and the British, German, Italian and Japanese Governments. Count de Sartiges said that no transmitting note had been prepared and that M. Briand had instructed the Embassy to explain that his draft was being submitted in the same spirit that the American draft had been transmitted last week to the interested Governments. He added that M. Briand had expressed a desire to receive the comments of this Government on the [Page 32] draft treaty, but he said, he realized, of course, that the United States would require some time to consider the draft before it would be in a position to comment thereon.
Count de Sartiges said that he understood that the draft treaty was to be published in Paris as soon as the Foreign Office had been informed of its delivery in the five Capitals, and that it would then, of course, be available for release to the American press. He offered to telegraph to Paris for information as to the exact time of release, and said he would inform the Department so that translations of the draft could be given by the Department to the Washington correspondents.