811b.01/63
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives (Fairfield)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of March 25, 1924, in which you inquire whether the granting of independence at this time to the Philippine Islands would be contrary to any provisions of the Four Power Pact.
The controversies referred to in paragraph two of Article I of the Treaty concluded December 13, 1921 at Washington between the United States, the British Empire, France and Japan, relating to their insular possessions and insular dominions in the region of the Pacific Ocean do not, as indicated in the declaration accompanying the Treaty,52 embrace questions which, under the principles of international law, lie exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of the respective powers. The question whether independence shall be granted to the Philippine Islands is one which lies exclusively; within the domestic jurisdiction of the United States. I, therefore, do not consider that the Treaty mentioned, the declaration accompanying the Treaty, or the Treaty supplementary thereto, concluded February 6, 1922,53 in any manner affect the exclusive right of this Government to withhold or to grant independence to the Islands in question.
I have [etc.]