500.A14/659
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
The Persian Minister called again in connection with the Arms Traffic Convention now before the Senate. He insisted that it would be illegal for this Government to ratify the Convention in its original form because Article 3 had already been revised by agreement among the powers; he said that he had already discussed the matter with Senator Bang and, I believe, with some other Senator and that it would be a simple matter to attach a clause to the treaty as follows: “Subject to the revision voted by the League Committee on Disarmament with reference to Article 3.” Not knowing precisely the subject matter of Article 3 and especially of the so-called League action in its connection, I said nothing more than that I would look into the matter though I was very doubtful that there was anything which we could properly do in the circumstances.