632.6331/63: Telegram
The Minister in Austria (Stockton) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 26—4:09 p.m.]
21. Yesterday, upon instruction from his Government, the British Minister urged Schober to submit the customs union proposal to the League Council. He stressed the disturbed conditions which would probably follow should Briand fall as a result of the agreement. Although he gave full assurances that Austria would not object to have the signatories of the Geneva Protocol examine the agreement in its legal aspects, Schober averred that Austria would object to treatment of this purely economic document as a political one. Furthermore, [Page 574] he insisted that it was compatible with the Geneva Protocol. The British Ambassador received a stronger reply from the German Chancellor, who spoke for the two Governments involved. Dr. Bruening claimed that the Council was without jurisdiction in the case since there was no violation of the Geneva Protocol. Bruening, who spoke as if authorized by the Austrian Government, made a good impression on the diplomatic corps in Vienna. Mussolini instructed the Italian Minister in Austria, on leave in Rome, to return immediately, to notify Schober, with whom he will confer this afternoon, that the Italian Government would objectively review the case. According to the Presse, the U. S. Commerce Department has concluded that the most-favored-nation clause is not affected by the proposed union. The State Department is also reported as having inquired of the Austrian and German Governments as to what effect the customs union would have on the most-favored-nation clause.