724.3415/1189: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Brazil ( Morgan )

[Paraphrase]

33. Embassy’s telegram No. 27, May 12, noon. The Department fears that another frontier incident or outbreak of hostilities may occur for other reasons, in which case it feels that the five neutral nations which have acted so far in the matter should be in a position immediately to take steps to maintain the peace. There is no assurance that an offer on the part of the Governments of the United States and of Brazil, as now suggested by the Government of Brazil, would be successful. The information now in the Department’s possession leads it to doubt very much whether Bolivia would accede to such a suggestion. In that event, either Bolivia or Paraguay, or both, might say that this action on the part of the Governments of the United States and of Brazil had superseded and terminated any action on the part of the five neutral nations, and for reasons above given it is the feeling of the Department that it should avoid being placed in such a situation.

At the International Conference of American States on Conciliation and Arbitration,49 the delegate of Brazil was a member of the subcommittee which handled the Bolivia-Paraguay matter, and Brazil was one of the countries which was originally asked to form the neutral committee of five. The Government of Brazil, for reasons set forth at that time, declined.50 The Government of the United States would welcome the return of Brazil to an active interest in the question. If the Government of Brazil desires to recommend to the five neutral nations that they take action with Brazil, the Government of the United States would be pleased to do so, provided the other neutral nations are also in agreement, and the Government of the United States would be prepared, if and when the suggestion is made to the neutral nations by Brazil, to notify the other neutral nations that the Government of the United States would be willing to support such action. You may advise the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs of the foregoing.

Stimson
  1. Held at Washington, December 10, 1928–January 5, 1929; see Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. i, pp. 621 ff., and ibid., 1929, vol. i, pp. 653 ff. For the proceedings of the Conference, see Proceedings of the International Conference of American States on Conciliation and Arbitration, Held at Washington, December 10, 1928–January 5, 1929 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1929).
  2. See telegram No. 2, January 3, 1929, 6 p.m., from the Ambassador in Brazil, Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. i, p. 831.