Department of State Committee files, lot 54 D 5, “Working Group on Colonial Problems”
Memorandum by the Officer in Charge of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs (Monsma)1
In the Working Group meeting on colonial areas this morning each of the area representatives were asked to submit a list of the problems in the colonial field which should be considered by the Working Group. I believe that none of the individual problems or cases in the colonial field in the Western Hemisphere need be considered by the Working Group as such. The important thing as far as the American Republics are concerned is their general attitude on colonial matters, since this [Page 1129] has a bearing on the position they are likely to take on any colonial question that may come up in the UN. Attached is a memorandum on the “Attitude of American Republics Toward European Dependent Territories in the Western Hemisphere” citing some of the more obvious examples of interest and concern demonstrated by the Latin American countries in the problem of dependent areas, with particular reference to those in the Western Hemisphere. The paper may be of use to the Working Group in a consideration of the attitude of the American Republics, although the examples cited need not be considered except as they explain the attitude of the American Republics on the general question of colonial relations.*