793.94/2779a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France (Shaw)
576. For Ambassador Dawes: According to your suggestion made this morning by telephone, I give you below a suggested statement which you may give to the press if it appears to you to be helpful. The matter is left entirely to your discretion. To both President Hoover and me it would appear that any such statement might better be made by you in Paris than by us here, since the limitation of American action with the League appears to be understood better here than it is by the League members themselves:58
“I have been directed to come to Paris for the purpose of discussing with the representatives of the different nations assembled here the [Page 506] crisis which is taking place in Manchuria. As a signatory of the Pact of Paris and of the socalled Nine-Power Treaty, the United States is deeply interested, with its fellow signatories, in seeing that the lofty purpose of those treaties is fulfilled. It has been the hope of my government that a settlement in accordance with the principles of those treaties would be arrived at through discussion and conciliation during the conferences in Paris and that the presence here of a representative of the United States would contribute to bring about a solution through this method. The United States is of course not a member of the League of Nations, and it therefore cannot take part in the discussions bearing upon the application of the machinery of the League Covenant. Since in the present crisis it may be possible that such discussions may arise, it is obvious that my presence at the meetings of the Council would not only be inappropriate but might even embarrass the efforts of the Council itself. But the position thus necessarily assumed by the United States in no way indicates that the United States is not wholly sympathetic with the efforts being made by the League to support the objective of peace in Manchuria. The united States must, however, preserve its fall freedom of judgment as to its course.”
Since the foregoing was prepared, it has occurred to me that it might be issued as a joint communiqué by Briand and you. If this idea appeals to you and if Briand subscribes to it, you may make the necessary, but only the necessary, changes and issue the statement as a joint communiqué; otherwise, please issue it as your own statement in its present form.
Let me know immediately when this action is taken, and give me the exact text used.59