740.00111A.R.–N.C./115
The Acting Secretary of State to the Director General of the Pan American Union (Rowe)
My Dear Dr. Rowe: I have the honor to refer to your letter of June 26,7 with which you transmitted the text of a cable communication of June 24, 1940 received from Dr. Afranio de Mello Franco, Chairman of the Inter-American Neutrality Committee, an English translation of which reads as follows:
“For the purpose of complying with clause 3 of the resolution of Panama on Contraband of War, I beg you to request the American Governments to be good enough to communicate to this Committee, at the earliest possible moment, their points of view on the subject, particularly relative to the classification of commodities within absolute or conditional contraband.”
Following a careful consideration of the question of Contraband of War, the conclusion has been reached that the Government of the United States does not have at this time any points of view which it could usefully communicate to the Inter-American Neutrality Committee and that it maintains the position expressed in the resolution entitled “Contraband of War” which was adopted by the Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics held at Panama in 1939.
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩