500.A15A4 Steering Committee/55: Telegram
The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 26—4:11 p.m.]
388. My 384, September 24, 5 p.m. and Department’s 209, September 25, 3 p.m. During the private meeting of the Bureau this afternoon Henderson raised the question of fixing a date for the next meeting of the General Commission. Madariaga first cast doubt as to the wisdom of this procedure. As envisaged in my telegram under reference I then explained that the Bureau should first give evidence of its desire to effect real progress according to the mandate given it to bring about substantial reduction of armaments and the strict limitation of the means of offense rather than run the risk of delaying such decisions by postponing them until meeting of the General Commission. Both Boncour and Simon expressed similar point of view.
It was therefore agreed that the Bureau might reconsider this question about October 10th when it shall have had the opportunity to determine what progress was actually being made. In the subsequent public meeting this decision was ratified as well as the appointment of Sir John Simon to keep the Bureau informed as to the progress of the naval discussions in accordance with the terms of the resolution.
Before making this suggestion to the Bureau I had consulted both Paul-Boncour and Sir John Simon and gained their agreement in principle.