500.A15A4 Military Effectives/14: Telegram

The Acting Chairman of the American Delegation (Gibson) to the Secretary of State

202. Our 176, May 7, 1 p.m. French military representatives have informed us that they are willing to have our formula put forward in the General Commission for discussion making only obvious reservations as to the computations. We are hopeful that they can be persuaded to stress their acquiescence as to the principle and subordinate their reservation to a perfunctory allusion to the present lack of comparable figures. We hope to hear within a day or two that Herriot and Tardieu have reached an agreement which will permit the convening of the General Commission to discuss the general subject of effectives and that it will then be possible to bring forward our formula. It will be necessary to rewrite the speech which you took home in order to bring out more fully the measure of consultation and cooperation which has preceded its presentation and we are now working on a redraft which will be telegraphed for your approval as soon as we hear definitely from the French. In preparing this we should like to have a reply to the question in the last paragraph of our 176, as to whether the President is willing to have the authorship of the idea attributed to him.

Gibson