611.2531/255: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Chile (Frost)
13. Your 18, January 31. We have no objection to the substance of the additional sentence suggested by the Foreign Office, but would prefer to have it expressed differently. We expect to print the modus vivendi and the exchange of notes in the United States Statutes at Large and also in a single separate document for the information of traders, members of Congress and other interested persons. Hence, since such persons do not have ready access to Chilean laws and might find it inconvenient to write for interpretations, it is especially desirable that the notes state precisely the manner and date on which the modus vivendi will come into force, both provisionally and definitively, and that they be self-explanatory in all respects.
Please explain the foregoing to the Foreign Office and suggest that the note quoted in my 10 of January 22 be amended by striking out all of the language after the words “January 6, 1938” and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
“shall come into force definitively 15 days after the date on which it is ratified by the Chilean Congress. Pending ratification by the Chilean Congress, the Agreement shall come into force provisionally on February 1, 1938, and, unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of numbered paragraph 7 thereof, shall remain in provisional effect until ratified by the Chilean Congress or until after the expiration of 1 year, whichever date occurs first. If the Agreement has not come into force definitively after the expiration of 1 year from February 1, 1938 it may, within the discretion of both Governments, be signed again and by this means be continued in provisional effect”.
If the foregoing amendment is satisfactory to Chile, you are authorized to effect the exchange of notes as soon as possible on condition that the language of the Chilean reply is identical with that of [Page 431] your note. The notes should be dated February 1, 1938, in order to avoid retroactive application.
It will be noted that under the foregoing amendment, the modus vivendi would come into force definitively 15 days after ratification by the Chilean Congress. The 15-day period is suggested for two reasons, namely, (1) to afford the Chilean Government an interval of time to take the necessary administrative steps, and (b) to specify a date on which the modus vivendi will come into force definitively.