550.S1/386: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 8—8:10 p.m.]
60. From Norman Davis. Referring to your 46, December 7, 11 a.m., I fully realize your difficulties regarding Preparatory Commission for Economic Conference. At the same time I feel it is important to avoid creating the impression among the other governments represented on the Commission and in the League circles that we are delaying the preparatory work for the Conference. On the basis of your 46, I stated that we would like to have the meeting as late in January as may be acceptable to the Preparatory Commission. League officials now tell me that after consultation with Trip they [Page 842] are sending out notices calling the meeting for January 9th which is 4 days later than originally planned. They state that this is the latest date for meeting which would permit Experts Committee to carry out its mandate to prepare a tentative agenda for next meeting of the Organizing Committee. Latter meets at the same time as the meeting of the League Council in the third week January as personnel of Organizing Committee is the same as that of League Council with the exception of ourselves and one or two other members.
We could hardly get a change in the decision of the Organizing Committee (no meeting of that Committee prior to January is now scheduled) without assuming responsibility for delaying the Conference. This I feel should be avoided as some of the states are lukewarm about the Conference and might seize upon any suggestion of delay on our part.
It should be borne in mind that while certain of the experts are government representatives this task at the January conference is not formally to commit the various governments on questions of policy but rather to prepare an agenda. This should be possible without final commitment as to the position to be taken when the agenda comes before the Conference for consideration. I agree that it is desirable to provide either through expert committees or by conversations between governments that the answers to the agenda should be formulated as definitely as possible before the Conference finally meets but this can hardly be achieved to any great extent at the January experts meeting. [Davis.]