793.94/4456
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
During the call of the British Ambassador today our conversation passed to the situation in Geneva. I took the occasion to point out that the attempts which were being made to sound out our position were premature; that the League of Nations was the only group possessing the machinery for an investigation and report upon an international controversy; that they had had this controversy before them for over four months and had not yet made any report as to the right or wrong of even the most elementary and cardinal features which stood out. I said I did not mean a report upon all the ultimate and difficult issues, but the plain ones which were staring us in the face; that until that was done—until the court had rendered a decision—it would be premature to discuss punishment, particularly with an outsider; that this country was so far ahead of them that they could not complain that we were standing in their path.
The Ambassador said something about the difficulties and inevitable character of sanctions under Article XVI. I replied that my analysis of the League covenant did not indicate that, and I pointed out that under Article XV I thought the Council or the Assembly to whom a case had been referred had the right to investigate and report and make recommendations which might include a set of sanctions which would be quite separate and distinct from the sanctions of Article XVI. I also pointed out that the sanctions of Article XVI did not constitute punishment for a controversy or offense which had been committed in the past and referred to the Council but solely to the new and separate offense which would be committed by a declaration of war after [Page 442] a report upon a party which had complied with the report; that in my opinion it would be quite possible for the Council or the Assembly in its report to devise sanctions which were not, like an embargo, liable to lead to war, but yet which would be very effective upon a country like Japan, and I said that in my letter to Senator Borah I had suggested one of them—the sanction of my note of January 7th—and I felt that the brains of the League could devise many other sanctions which would be effective and yet not war-like. After I had finished, he said that he thought he understood the analysis which I had pointed out.