740.00111A.R.–N.C./25
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Bowers)
Sir: With reference to your telegram No. 33, January 31, 1 p.m., while the Department agrees with the view expressed by the Chilean Foreign Office that the Neutrality Committee now in session at Rio de Janeiro should have a maximum of influence, it should be remembered that the Committee is a purely advisory body whose recommendations and resolutions are to be submitted through the Pan American Union to the governments of the American republics. Should those governments desire to take collective action on any specific recommendation or resolution, it is to be assumed that they would employ the procedure of consultation in order to reach agreement.
It is furthermore the Department’s view that the Neutrality Committee is not a body consisting of the representatives of seven governments, but that it is a group of prominent international lawyers provided for a specific purpose by the governments of the twenty-one American republics.
Very truly yours,