811.113/220
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle)
I reminded the French Ambassador13 that he had spoken to the Secretary the other day about the proposed law giving the President authority, in cooperation with other nations, to put an embargo on arms going to countries where there was war or a threat of war and that he had expressed sympathy. He said this was quite true, that he had no definite instructions from his Government, but that he felt this law was exactly in line with what the French Government had long urged. He said, of course, there would be opposition from the same people (the Comité des Forges) whom I had attacked in my speech about press relations14 because of their ownership of certain [Page 360] metropolitan papers. He said that probably I might be criticized in France, but that made no difference as I had merely stated a fact which was known to everybody. The Ambassador said that France, in this question of control of traffic in arms, was working with the League of Nations, but that he felt sure it would be only too glad to take independent action in a case such as the Chaco dispute, where such independent action would obviously be useful. I told him that I had brought the matter up because a Senator had told me last night that if he could say on the floor of the Senate that France and Great Britain were willing to cooperate with the United States in cases of this kind, the resolution would go through without any question, that unless the Senate could be assured that this would not be merely an idle gesture the law might perish through lack of reality.
The Ambassador said that he would immediately communicate with his Government and get an answer from them as to whether he might assure me, for transmission to the Senate, that France would play the game. He said he ought to have an answer very shortly except for the fact, possibly, with a change of Government the Quai d’Orsay was not functioning efficiently.