500.C/1040: Telegram
The Consul General at Geneva (Tittmann) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:44 p.m.]
149. Consulate’s telegram No. 145, August 14, 5 p.m.32 Costa du Rels, President of the Council of the League of Nations and Bolivian delegate who I understand is in Geneva on behalf of several Latin American member states in order to watch developments in League circles, confirmed my feeling in a conversation last night that the British were doing all they could to have the League’s technical services transferred to the United States contrary to the desire of Avenol; and that Hambro, the President of the Assembly, was supporting this move. He said that he thought that the Latin American States would not look with disfavor upon the possibility of the League operating in the United States but that they would not feel that it was compatible with the dignity of member states if it were generally regarded that the Secretariat were going there on sufferance with a status not unlike that of refugees. He intimated that this was an important psychological consideration insofar as Latin America was concerned.
Costa du Rels had been to Bern recently where the Swiss authorities had taken occasion to express to him their regret at the haste with which the League’s services were apparently being dispersed but at the same time they had made it clear that they wished no formal meetings of any kind in connection with the League to take place in Geneva at the present time. The German Minister to Switzerland in a conversation with Costa du Rels also had shown surprise at the precipitate exit of the International Labor Office and of the economic and financial intelligence services of the League.
I understand that a League budget for 1941 is being prepared by Jacklin, the Treasurer, and that it will probably be discussed at the contemplated meeting of the Supervisory Commission at Lisbon in September.
- Not printed.↩