511.1D1/49: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Armour) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:30 p.m.]
515. From Gordon. Haitian delegate to the Conference, who is brother of Haitian Minister to France now home on leave of absence, [Page 435] has stated to me that first point under article 18 of the draft convention gave him concern.12 If the United States should ever become a party to this convention, he said, then France, for instance, could demand of Haiti under this article by a grant of reciprocal agreement (which might only be nominal and sterile) the same treatment which Haiti extends to us, and this he felt would not be to the best interest of either Haiti or ourselves. He hoped that my views met his and that I would express an opinion unfavorable to this clause which he might thereupon quote to his Government and advise the latter to authorize him to refuse to accept this provision.
In reply to the delegate I observed that the point he raised could not have any immediate application as long as the United States did not become a party to the convention. He then said that he wished to consider all possible eventualities before he agreed to any provisions which held such dangerous possibilities.
The question raised by the Haitian delegate is doubtless of interest to the Department, as the same considerations might arise with respect to our relations with certain other countries. It is my belief that the delegates to this Conference from the countries I have in mind are considering this question (the Haitian delegate has already spoken to his colleagues at the Conference from Panama and the Dominican Republic), so I should appreciate receiving an instruction regarding Department’s views to guide me in any future conversations I may have with such delegates. If Department should feel inclined to set forth its views in some detail, I think that an instruction by mail, if it were sent off by end of this week, would reach me probably in sufficient time. [Gordon.]
- Point 1 of article 18 after providing for the granting by any high contracting party, under certain limitations, of more favorable conditions to one or more of the other high contracting parties under the terms of special agreements, continues to read as follows: “These more favourable conditions may be claimed on condition of reciprocal treatment by any High Contracting Party not enjoying the benefits of the most-favoured-nation clause under a bilateral agreement and therefore unable to claim the free benefit thereof on that account.”↩