500.A15A4 Steering Committee/459: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Bingham )
351. For Hugh Wilson. Your 504, September 3, noon.68
United Press despatch this morning, under Geneva date-line, reports that the Bureau meeting has been tentatively fixed for September 25 “to allow Norman H. Davis to attend,” this date depending on whether Mr. Davis “would be able to reach Geneva by that time.”
This appears to be an attempt to shift the responsibility for future progress on to the United States. Mr. Davis tells us his suggestion that the Bureau meeting be postponed was made in the hope that such delay would give time for further developments in the matter of Germany’s return to the Conference. It would be unfair in the face of failure to make progress in this field to create the impression that the [Page 145] delay was motivated by a desire to suit Mr. Davis’ convenience, or that we should assume the responsibility for fixing the date of meeting.
Please telegraph whether there have been any recent developments in the direction of bringing Germany back into the conference and whether, in default of progress along these lines, you see any compelling reason why Mr. Davis should personally represent us at the forthcoming meeting of the Bureau.
- Not printed.↩