500.A15A4 General Committee (Arms)/28

The Acting Secretary of State to the American Delegate ( Wilson )

Sir: The receipt is acknowledged of your despatches of July 3, July 11 and July 13, respectively, in regard to the Draft Articles for the Regulation of the Trade in and Manufacture of Arms and Implements of War which were adopted by the Committee for the Regulation of the Trade in and Manufacture of Arms and Implements of War on July 2. The following considerations are set forth for your future guidance in negotiations pertaining to this matter.

It is noted that the Draft Articles, the additional provisions suggested in the memorandum by Colonel Strong, transmitted with your despatch of July 11, and the revised categories of arms contained in your despatch of July 13 are all predicated upon the assumption that the Disarmament Conference will be successful in negotiating a General Disarmament Convention. In the present circumstances, it is quite proper that they should be so predicated. It is suggested, however, that you should have ready for use, in case the necessity arises, a modified draft of the articles pertaining to this subject which might be presented to the Conference as a separate Convention dealing exclusively with the manufacture of and trade in arms.

Article G does not appear to relate primarily to the supervision and control of the manufacture of and trade in arms and the provisions thereof are extraneous to the purposes of the other articles dealing with that subject. It is, therefore, suggested that if it is desired to retain this article in the Convention, it should be incorporated elsewhere therein.

In order that a Permanent Disarmament Commission may function with as little friction as possible, it would appear to be highly advisable that the duties of that Commission referred to in Article I be specified in considerable detail in respect both to its obligations and to certain types of activities which it must avoid. These duties might be specified in Article I or in an Appendix, but in any case the detailed specifications should be a part of the Convention.

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The additional provisions relating to the trade in arms suggested by Colonel Strong, in his memorandum transmitted with your despatch of July 11, are approved in principle. In this connection, your attention is invited to the Department’s telegram No. 425 of June 5, 8 p.m.,65 and in particular to Paragraph (3) thereof. In dealing with the trade in arms, the essential features of the Arms Traffic Convention of 1925 should be retained. This Government has, however, no interest in Chapter III of that Convention and we hope that if provisions such as are contained therein must be retained in the interest of other powers, they may be modified to meet as far as possible the objections of the governments of those countries which are included in or adjacent to the Special Zones. In any case, you should avoid becoming involved in any discussions in regard to this matter which may arise between the powers most directly interested.

A further instruction in regard to the categories of arms will be sent you when the opinions of the War and Navy Departments have been ascertained.

I enclose, for your information, a copy of a letter of July 23 from the Acting Secretary of War,66 in regard to this subject, and a copy of my reply thereto.67

Very truly yours,

William Phillips
  1. Ante, p. 102.
  2. Ante, p. 139.
  3. Supra.