500.A15A4 Steering Committee/138: Telegram
The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 11—8:45 a.m.]
446. Department’s 236, November 10, 5 p.m. I defer to your wishes of course and understand the position. I shall delete our reservation from the report and explain privately but as widely as possible our position in order to forestall as far as possible emphasis being laid on it in discussions in the Bureau. Whatever precautions we take however I feel we must expect a certain amount of publicity [Page 372] since a considerable amount of interest and speculation is already rife among the American pressmen aroused by a letter which Manley Hudson sent to a friend in the Secretariat stating that he learned from official sources that the American delegation had reversed its attitude.
We have to face the possibility of an explanation being necessary during the discussion in the Bureau and to this end I should like to suggest a phraseology which I might have ready but which would be delivered informally:
“The reservation which my delegation has heretofore maintained, based on the peculiar constitutional system of the United States, has been withdrawn. The reservation had raised the question of conflict of authority in certain spheres between the Federal Government and the powers exercised by the States within their own boundaries. We feel that after further study the particular constitutional question involved in the matter of licensing or control of private manufacture must be merged in and become a part of the whole question of limitation and reduction of armaments. This problem, as being a part of a larger problem the solution of which is based primarily upon the common good and the general welfare, must be considered from a broader standpoint. Thus in considering this and other questions involved in the broader field of disarmament we will take our position on the basis of expediency and practical policy.”
It is impossible to say just when this discussion will take place in the Bureau but at the rate things are now moving it may be in the immediate future. Therefore, I would appreciate as soon as possible your views as to the phraseology of this contemplated “extemporaneous” statement.