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The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Wilson), at Geneva
60. Your 86, January 27, 7 p.m. Conversations are now going on between countries bordering on Bolivia and Paraguay to see if they can agree on some action to be taken jointly with the Neutrals to put an end to the Chaco fighting. So far they have been unable to agree but Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Argentina and Chile are meeting at Mendoza on Wednesday and we are hopeful that something tangible will result therefrom. We feel therefore that it would be better not to complicate the situation at the present time by proposal of the League to send a commission. If the negotiations of the neighboring powers fail, then would be time to take the matter up. Department understands that Paraguay has also taken this same view of the matter.
It is Department’s view, on the basis of past experience, that the best chance of obtaining a settlement is through the cooperation of the neighboring powers and the Neutral Commission is doing everything possible at the present time to bring about such cooperation. The League will have even more difficulty than did the Neutral Commission [Page 264] in trying to deal with this matter at long range without such cooperation.