724.3415/4590
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Wilson)
At my request Mr. Mario Rodríguez, Secretary of the Chilean Embassy, came in, Mr. Cohen, Counselor of the Embassy, still being in New York. I referred to the conversation which Mr. Rodríguez had with Mr. McGurk yesterday, in which Mr. Rodríguez, under instructions from his Government, had informed us confidentially of the Argentine-Chilean mission to Bolivia and Paraguay in an effort to conciliate the views of those Governments, thereby avoiding any action looking to the imposition of sanctions by Geneva; and had inquired whether this Government could use its good offices with States members of the League with a view to having them postpone the meeting of the Advisory Committee (now set for March 11) until such time as the success or failure of the Argentine-Chilean démarche had been determined.
I said to Mr. Rodríguez that, as his Government knew, the United States had agreed to participate in the conciliation conference of American States, at Buenos Aires, which had been one of the recommendations adopted by the League of Nations on November 24, last; and that, as his Government also knew, the United States has consistently favored the holding of such a conference of American States and continues to hope that it may be possible to have such conference, believing that this would prove very beneficial in the cause of peace. As regards the suggestion, however, that we request States, members of the League, to postpone any action at Geneva for the time being, I said that we had considered this matter carefully, but felt that, not being a member of the League, it really would not be possible for us to take such action. I thanked Mr. Rodríguez for having informed us of this development, mentioning that we, of course, did not know what progress may have been achieved by the Argentine-Chilean effort in La Paz and Asunción, nor the bases on which it was hoped to conciliate the views of the two Governments. Mr. Rodríguez said that he had no information in the matter other than the bare statement that Mr. Nieto, of the Chilean Foreign Office, had been sent to La Paz [Page 13] and an Argentine representative had been sent to Asunción. He said that he understood our position perfectly and would so report it to his Government.