740.00111A.R.–N.C./32: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 3—11:50 a.m.]
47. My telegram No. 46, February 1, 4 p.m. In its final session last evening before recessing the Neutrality Committee agreed upon recommendations regarding submarines and auxiliary transports.38 The texts are being sent to the Department through the Pan American Union.
Most of the Committee favored complete exclusion of submarines. But Argentina and Chile while not strongly opposed to excluding them from ports and harbors did oppose anything that might raise the question of territorial waters because of their respective claims to the entire mouth of the River Plate and the Straits of Magellan. For this reason the submarine recommendation had to be drafted to include an alternative rule for countries desiring to admit them.
During the recess subcommittees will study the problem of contraband and special questions concerning mines and radio and telegraph communications that have been presented by Venezuela and other governments.
Only Fenwick and the Costa Rican delegate are leaving today for visits home during the recess. It is expected that the full committee will meet again about the middle of March.
- See Minutes of the Sessions Held by the Inter-American Neutrality Committee, Appendix A, Law and Treaty Series No. 15, p. 94.↩