724.34119/243: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell)
145. For Gibson. Your 249, October 19, 4 p.m. With regard to problem (1) indicated in the penultimate paragraph of your telegram, it may well be that the apparent change of attitude evidenced by Zubizarreta and the other Paraguayan Delegates will not be shared eventually by President Ayala and General Estigarribia.7 In view of the reasonable point of view taken by these two latter on repeated occasions during the past 18 months, it is to be hoped that after mature reflection these two principal figures in the Paraguayan Government will perceive the advantage of agreeing to accept the project offered as a basis for direct agreement. I8 shall see the Paraguayan Minister tomorrow and request him to communicate with his brother in the confidential code he employs, setting forth in full detail the attitude of this Government, and expressing the hope that the Paraguayan Government will not reject the project, but will agree to accept it as a basis for final settlement.
For your confidential information, the Bolivian Minister called to see me this morning to advise me that he had received the full text of the project from his Government by cable and that his recommendations thereon had been requested. Inasmuch as he has consistently been entirely intransigent in the past, I was pleased to learn that he intended to recommend to his Government the acceptance of the project by Bolivia. He gave me to understand further that the information he had received from La Paz showed an atmosphere favorable towards acceptance.
With regard to problem (2) indicated in your telegram under reference, it would seem highly desirable to continue the Neutral Military Commission in existence at least until definite information [Page 169] is obtained whether the present project will be accepted by both belligerents as a basis for agreement. Article III of the Protocol would seem to be sufficiently elastic to permit of a construction thereof enabling a continuation of the Neutral Military Commission. It would seem preferable to make no change in the present status of the Commission until the time has come to determine whether arbitration remains the sole existing solution.