793.94/5460
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
During the call of the French Ambassador he referred to the Disarmament Conference at Geneva and said that, in his opinion, it was a great mistake to speak of the Conference as not having accomplished anything; that he thought it had accomplished a great deal. I said that I agreed with him. I told the Ambassador that I was preparing a speech on the Briand-Kellogg Pact15 and that my work on that speech had recalled to my mind the value of a great effort which was thus initiated by our two countries. I also told him that I was looking forward with concern to what was likely to happen in the Far East when the Manchurian Commission made its report and I was anxious that there should be the same cooperation between his Government and mine when that occurred, as well as the same solidarity of opinion on behalf of the peace treaties by all the nations who supported them at Geneva last March. The Ambassador expressed his agreement. I told him that I received rather serious reports from Tokyo, indicating that the Government of Japan was in virtual possession of a group of younger Army officers, and I said that this made it most important that those [Page 189] countries who believed in the peace treaties should continue to stand together against any infringement of those treaties.
- For text of the speech of August 8, see vol. i, p. 575.↩