500.A15A4 Steering Committee/212: Telegram
The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 2—10:30 a.m.]
471. Department’s 254, December 1, 4 p.m. Although the Committee has not yet discussed the form that the final conventions concerning trade in and manufacture of arms shall take, it seems generally understood that the Convention of 1925 will not be recommended for further ratifications without certain changes. Furthermore, in the resolution by the Bureau on November 22 referring the Committee’s report back for further consideration the following provision appears:
“The Bureau considers that it is already agreed that the provisions relating to the trade in and manufacture of arms and implements of war shall be included in the same legal instrument as the convention for the reduction and limitation of armaments”.
This does not necessarily imply that a separate protocol may not be drawn up to embody the provisions agreed upon but merely that it shall be drafted within the general framework of the Conference and final disarmament treaty.
Among the changes in the 1925 Convention envisaged at the present time are modifications of the barred zone to meet the Persian request for exemption; amendments in the lists of categories to take care of arms, the use of which may be prohibited or restricted by the general convention; and the establishment of a uniform list both for manufacture and trade in arms. It is also possible that an effort may be made to require licenses both for import as well as for export shipments [Page 408] and the deposit of copies of all such licenses issued by the governments with the Permanent Disarmament Commission.
In these circumstances the Department may consider it advisable to withhold its efforts to urge favorable action upon the 1925 Convention until more definite progress can be registered in this slowest of all the committees.