811.248/53
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War (Davis)
Sir: I have the honor to refer to your letter of October 15, 1927, requesting to be furnished with a list of those countries to which, in the opinion of this Department, there is objection to having Liberty Aviation engines exported.
The following observations relative to certain countries are deemed pertinent to your inquiry under present conditions.
Latin America. At the present time an embargo is in force against the shipment of arms and ammunition to Honduras85 and Nicaragua.86 The Department would not view with favor the export of any arms to Nicaragua except for the use of the National Guard which is commanded by American officers. The Department would be disposed to give favorable consideration to the purchase of a moderate quantity of arms and munitions by the Honduran Government but is closely watching all shipments to private individuals. In [Page 335] view of the special situation now existing as regards Peru, Chile and Bolivia, the Department would desire to give very careful consideration to any proposed sale of arms, munitions or aviation engines to those countries. The regime now functioning in Ecuador has not been recognized by the United States although this Government is maintaining friendly relations therewith, and the Department would not object to the sale of aviation engines to the authorities in control of the government of that country should your Department desire to dispose of Liberty engines there. With regard to Mexico I may say that this Government has for some time past been maintaining an embargo on arms and munitions of war to that country, including aviation material for the use of the Mexican Government.87 However, the Department is now giving favorable consideration to applications covering aircraft and aviation material destined for use in Mexico.88
Europe. It is the policy of the Department to view with disfavor the exportation from the United States of military equipment to, or intended for, Russia, and in view of this fact the Department would not look with favor on the sale at the present time by your Department of Liberty engines for export to that country, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Article 170 of the Treaty of Versailles89 provides that “importation into Germany of arms, munitions, and war material of every kind shall be strictly prohibited”. However, Article 201 of the same Treaty provides that
“During the six months following the coming into force of the present Treaty, the manufacture and importation of aircraft, parts of aircraft, engines for aircraft, [and] parts of engines for aircraft, shall be forbidden in all German territory.”
Similar provisions to those of Articles 170 and 201 of the Treaty of Versailles may be found in the Treaty of St. Germain (Articles 134 and 147, respectively) and the Treaty of Trianon (Articles 118 and 131, respectively).90 The foregoing treaty provisions would appear to have no bearing on the importation into Germany, Austria and Hungary at this time of civilian aircraft engines, parts, et cetera. Whether this is true of military aircraft matefial, et cetera, is not so clear, in view of the provisions of Article 170 of the Treaty, which might possibly be held to apply. In the event that your Department should consider the sale of Liberty Aviation engines in any of the three above mentioned countries, it would [Page 336] seem advisable to give further consideration to this point. Upon your request the Department will be pleased to take this point under further advisement.
Far East. In so far as China is concerned I would call attention to the Presidential Proclamation of March 4, 1922,91 a copy of which is enclosed herewith, making unlawful the exportation of arms and munitions of war to that country which would seem to prevent the exportation to China of aviation engines for military purposes. There would be no objection to the exportation to China of aviation engines if this Department were satisfied that they would be used for commercial purposes.
This Department would, however, like to be advised of any requests for the sale of aviation material or war supplies to any foreign government, as the situation changes from time to time.
I have [etc.]
- Proclaimed Mar. 22, 1924; Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. ii, p. 322.↩
- Proclaimed Sept. 15, 1926; 44 Stat. 2625.↩
- Proclamation of Jan. 7, 1924; Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. ii, p. 428.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1927, vol. iii, pp. 233 ff.↩
- William M. Malloy (ed.), Treaties, Conventions, etc., Between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1910–1923 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1923, vol. iii, p. 3329.↩
- Ibid., pp. 3149, 3539.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 726.↩