500.A15A4/777: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Wilson)
19. Your 16 January 21, 4 p.m. While I appreciate the advantages to be gained by holding a plenary session in February and then adjourning the political discussions until early in May, I am somewhat disturbed by your hint that the technical commissions may not be set up and function during the period of adjournment. Apart from the fact that there are many technical problems that can usefully be debated and decided, I fear the effect on public opinion, which is already somewhat sceptical as to the Conference, if after a general exchange of views, all negotiations, even of a preliminary technical character, should be suspended for two or three months. You may convey these considerations orally to Drummond. For your personal information, Congress passed the authorizing legislation after prolonged debate, and by a vote of approximately 3 to 2 only,15 and the actual appropriation bill has not yet been passed. One of the chief grounds of opposition has been a feeling that the European nations were not entering the Conference with an idea of serious work; if after the opening discussions our delegation should be left idle for months, this feeling would be seriously accentuated.
- Congressional Record, vol. 75, pt. 2, pp. 2197–2198; 47 Stat. 4, 35.↩