500.A15A4 Steering Committee/80: Telegram
The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 6—5:08 p.m.]
402. In the first general discussion of the Committee for the Regulation of Trade in and Manufacture of Arms this afternoon Jouhaux, France, made appeal for the total abolition of private manufacture of arms and munitions of war. If this is not possible he then recommended the establishment of a strict control and restriction of production.
Madariaga emphasized the importance of establishing the same system for private and state manufacture and desired to apply a tripartite system providing for control of both private and state manufacture, control of surplus on hand and a more adequate control of arms traffic which would be brought about through the deposit of copies of all licenses for both import and export shipments of arms with a central control office in Geneva.
During the general discussion which followed I summarized the American position both as regard our constitutional difficulty and as regard full publicity for both private and state manufacture and expressed the thought that possibly Madariaga’s suggestion of a deposit of licenses of arms shipments with a disarmament commission in Geneva should be carefully considered since it might provide the means of conciliating the different points of view and provide a solution.