500.A15A4 General Committee/940: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation ( Davis ) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 1—11:09 p.m.]
862. Barthou told me this afternoon that Simon lunched with him today, that they had had a very interesting and extremely satisfactory conversation and in fact a love fest. Simon, who later came over to speak to me at the meeting, asked me if I had heard about his lunch with Barthou and I said yes I had heard about a love fest. He said that they had had a frank, friendly talk, but had not gotten anywhere; that it was impossible to cooperate with the French unless you agreed [Page 95] with them on everything, whereas in the case of England and America rows and differences of view, such as on the debt, did not keep us from cooperating in other respects. He furthermore said they were not disposed to wait indefinitely for France to complete her so-called Eastern Locarno, which was not a matter for the Disarmament Conference to deal with but which was merely an alliance, and he remarked that if France continues along that line England may make a deal with Germany and Belgium unless a real disarmament agreement can be arrived at promptly.
He told me that he had to leave for London tonight and wanted to talk to me a little further before he left as to what could be done.