500.A15A5/728: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 19—12:20 p.m.]
147. Your special attention is called to the safeguarding clauses found in articles 24 and 25 of the draft treaty and in particular the provision for consultation and 3 months’ delay before a departure from the provisions of the treaty may be made and if possible for agreement as to extent of such departure. This provision was inserted with a view to making it less easy to depart from the treaty hastily and without justification. However, a failure to reach agreement does not prevent departure from the treaty. The provisions concerning agreement, therefore, do not stipulate that such agreement must be “duly made in accordance with the constitutional method of the respective powers” as does article 22 of the Treaty of Washington of 1922. The two cases, however, are not similar. Article 22 of the Washington Treaty provides for the amending of a treaty which obviously would require senatorial approval whereas in the present treaty it is a question which involves a departure in the carrying out of certain executory provisions of a treaty as to which agreement is desirable but not necessary. It seems to us sufficient therefore to leave open for determination when the question arises whether our acquiescence in the extent to which another party to the treaty has announced its intention to depart would require the advice and consent of the Senate or could be made by Executive action alone.