724.3415/3158
Memorandum by the Chairman of the Commission of Neutrals (White)
Mr. Finot called and said that his Government was very much upset at the failure of Argentina and Chile to come into the meeting with the Neutrals. He said that he had information that Argentina and Chile, especially the latter, were active in Geneva, trying to have the League support the Mendoza formula. He said that there was no more reason why the League should take the Mendoza formula as the point of departure in their negotiations than that they should take the Neutral proposal of December 15.10 He hoped that the Neutral Commission would not fall in for any such thing as this and would tell the League that we want to be consulted before they make another proposal. We have told the League that we will cooperate and the League counts heavily on our support. However, cooperation, he thought, meant consultation in advance so that we would have some word in drawing up the plan and not just be asked to come in and support the plan after it has been formulated and presented to the two Governments. I told Mr. Finot that he could be sure that we would not support any proposal we did not agree to. Whether we were consulted in advance or not was a matter for the League to decide but of course they would run the risk of not getting our support if they brought out a proposal without consulting us.
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