500.A15A4 General Committee/419: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis)
Washington, May 28,
1933—11 p.m.
344. Your 668, May 27, 3 p.m. Your three questions were submitted to the President, who desires that you be guided by the following:
- (a)
- We can accept Annex II of Chapter 3. You should therefore support and vote for it as it stands or with such insubstantial modifications as others may insist on and which are acceptable to the British.
- (b)
- The provisions relating to unladen weight, while not entirely satisfactory from our point of view, are acceptable in principle. You should, however, avoid, as far as possible, entering into the public discussion of this question, and should abstain from voting at this juncture or from otherwise committing yourself. Please telegraph whatever text results from the first reading and await further instructions before stating our final position.
- (c)
- We can agree to the figure of 500 for the United States contained in the table which follows Article 41, provided no larger figure [Page 172] is insisted on for any other Power. In the latter ease, we must, of course, demand parity with the largest total agreed to.
The President considers that we can better afford to reduce our air material to a low parity figure in view of the greater number and efficiency of our trained aviation personnel and our greater capacity for immediate and extensive production of aircraft in the event of an emergency.
Hull