500.C114/795: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Wilson)
57. If Drummond has not yet started for Madrid, I should be pleased to have you deliver to him personally the following letter, which you will sign:18
“My dear Sir Eric. I am instructed to acknowledge the courtesy of the Secretary General of the League of Nations in transmitting [Page 14] with his informal note of May 2, 1929,19 19 a copy of the report and draft protocol adopted by the Committee of Jurists at their session in Geneva, March 11 to March 19, 1929, and concerning the proposed adherence of the United States to the Protocol and Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice. I am glad to inform you further that whenever the suggestions of the Committee have been laid before the Council and have come to the Government of the United States officially, the Government will be glad to give them most attentive and cordial consideration.”
When you deliver this letter, please inform Drummond that I believe it not only inappropriate to comment in any way on the draft protocol before it has been submitted to Council of the League, but that at this time it is highly inadvisable to start any public discussion when the Government is not able to lead in that discussion. Drummond already knows the President’s desire that the United States may become a member of the Permanent Court of International Justice, and he will realize that we must decide both as to best time and best method of approaching subject. In any event, the matter can not be brought before Senate until regular session of Congress in December.