711.922/74
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Sayre)
The Siamese Minister called at 2:30 and we talked further with regard to the proposal made some time ago by the Siamese Government to revise the Siamese Treaty by omitting Article III therefrom.
In the course of this discussion I handed to the Minister the accompanying draft of a note8 which I suggested that my Government would be glad to send to the Siamese Government in response to their request. I pointed out to the Minister that as a result of our conversation of some days ago my Government was not making the grant of most-favored-nation treatment with regard to land ownership in Siam a condition for the revision of the Treaty, but that, as expressed in the last paragraph of the draft, the American Government would very much appreciate such a grant. I explained to the Minister that a grant in the form proposed would leave the hands of the Siamese Government entirely free in the course of their work of revising their existing treaties to deal with the problem of foreign land ownership in Siam entirely as they pleased, whereas undertaking to grant to American citizens rights of land ownership, as set forth in the Decree of the Fourth Reign, would not leave Siam’s hands entirely free. In other words, I pointed out that the suggestion made in the draft would, to my mind, be more advantageous from the view point of the Siamese Government in that it would leave Siam’s hands entirely free in its work of treaty revision. I also said that such a solution of the question of land ownership would, to my mind, be a very happy one in that it would finally dispose of a question which has troubled the two Governments for many years.
The Siamese Minister expressed his appreciation and in taking the draft said that he would at once communicate with his Government and let us have its views at the earliest possible moment.
- Infra.↩