500.A15/21
The Chargé in Switzerland (Winslow) to the Secretary of
State
Berne, December 13,
1925.
[Received December 24.]
No. 744
Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 146 of
December 13, 12 noon,42 I
have the honor to enclose a communication from M. Scialoja, Acting
President of the Council of the League of Nations, dated December 12,
1925, addressed to the Secretary of State inviting the Government of the
United States, on behalf of the Council of the League to send
representatives to sit on the Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament
Conference which meets at Geneva on February 15, 1926, in accordance
with a decision of the Council of December 12, 1925. The enclosures to
this invitation, namely the report on the Preparatory Commission
prepared by M. Beneš (Document C 792(2)M.277 1925.IX) adopted by the
Council on December 12th, and the list of questions to be examined by
the Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament Conference (Document
C.793(2)M.278 1925.IX) also prepared by M. Beneš, adopted by the Council
on December 12th, are transmitted with this despatch.43
As stated in my telegram under reference, I have been informed by a
member of the Secretariat that it is its intention to give the text of
this invitation to the press, probably on December 16th, at which time
the similar invitation addressed to the Union of the Socialist Soviet
Republics, and also despatched on December 12th, shall have reached its
destination.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The Acting President of the Council of the
League of Nations (Scialoja) to the Secretary of State
Geneva, 12 December,
1925.
Sir: In the name of the Council of the
League of Nations, I have the honour to invite the Government of the
United States of America to send representatives to sit on the
Preparatory Commission for the [Page 41] Disarmament Conference which has been set up by the Council by a
decision of to-day’s date and which is to meet in Geneva on February
15th, 1926.
Particulars regarding the composition and working of this Commission
are to be found in a document enclosed with this letter.44 The following nations, in
addition to the States Members of the Council, will be invited to
send Representatives to the Preparatory Commission:—
- Bulgaria,
- Finland,
- Germany,
- Netherlands,
- Poland,
- Roumania,
- Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes,
- Union of the Socialist Soviet Republics.
The Commission will have at its disposal the advice of the Technical
(military and civilian) Organisations of the League of Nations, as
well as that of any other qualified authorities which in the opinion
of the Commission it may be advisable to consult on any of the
subjects which may come under its consideration.
Its task will consist in the preparation of a Conference for
disarmament which it is intended to call together at the earliest
possible date. Its deliberations will be directed to such matters as
the various factors upon which the power of a country in time of war
depends; the question as to whether it is practicable to limit the
ultimate war strength of a country, or whether measures of
disarmament should be confined to the peace strength; the various
forms which reduction or limitation may take in the case of land,
sea and air forces, and the relative advantages or disadvantages of
each of these different forms; the standards by which it is possible
to measure the armaments of one country against the armaments of
another; the possibility of ascertaining that the armed force of a
country is organised for purely defensive purposes, or on the
contrary in a spirit of aggression; the principles on which it may
be possible to draw up a scale of armaments for the various
countries, and the factors which may enter into the establishment of
such principles—such as population, resources, geographical
situation, communications, vulnerability of frontiers, delays that
are necessary in order to transform peace armaments into war
armaments, degree of security etc; the criteria, if any, by which it
may be possible to distinguish between civil and military aircraft;
the estimation of the military value of commercial fleets; the
relations between regional security and regional disarmament and
between regional disarmament and general disarmament. The full
particulars as to the programme of the Preparatory Commission will
be found in a document enclosed with this letter.44
[Page 42]
As a result of the long and continuous study which it has devoted to
this question, the Council is unanimously of the opinion that, owing
to the political, economic and technical complexity of the problem
which it raises, the question of disarmament can hardly be
approached with any certain hope of complete solution unless it is
considered in its entirety and with the co-operation of all nations.
The matters for examination touch upon all the aspects of the
question and affect the interests of all the nations of the world;
and the methods and machinery for dealing with them should, in the
Council’s opinion, be not less universal. On these general grounds,
as well as on the more special grounds of the high importance of the
United States in such matters, the Council attaches the greatest
possible value to the co-operation of the Government of the United
States, not only in the Conference which it is its intention to call
together, but also in the preparatory work which, in its opinion, is
indispensable for the success of that Conference. The Council
believes that the time has come for studying the practical
possibilities of the reduction and limitation of armaments under the
guidance and responsibility of the Governments and expresses the
hope that at the moment when all the nations of the world are
conscious of a common need, it will be able to count on the full and
direct co-operation of the Government of the United States for a
work which so closely concerns the peace of the world.
I have [etc.]
