740.00111A.R.–N.C./30: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:26 p.m.]
46. My 44, January 29, 2 p.m.34 Fenwick will leave Rio de Janeiro Saturday by air for his visit to the United States during the recess of the Neutrality Committee (subcommittees functioning meanwhile by order)35
The Committee is now completing draft recommendations covering submarines and auxiliary vessels. It is likely that one or both of these will be agreed upon before the recess begins on Saturday.
The only recommendations that have been made so far are those concerning internment which were communicated to the Department through the Pan American Union last week.
Fenwick finds that the work of the Committee has been hampered by the interference of some of the governments that have nominated members:
For example earlier agreement on a rule to exclude submarines was prevented by the insistence of the Argentine Navy that Podesta Costa [Page 279] oppose exclusion. Also countries not having members on the Committee have been manifesting a desire to get advance information regarding its work and a feeling that they were not being represented by it. For these reasons the Committee have been endeavoring more and more to maintain their identity as a committee of experts representing all the members of the Pan American Union reporting only to the latter in strict compliance with the Panama Resolutions and avoiding any appearance of representing the nominating governments. This is why Fenwick has felt constrained to report less fully to the Department directly than he did at first.