511.4A6/403: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Caldwell)
24. Your 44, July 12, 3 p.m.
- 1.
- The Delegation is authorized to sign the treaty and the protocol
of signature10 with the following
reservations:
- (1)
- The Government of the United States reserves the right to impose, for purposes of internal control and control of import into and export from territory under its jurisdiction of opium, coca leaves, all of their derivatives and similar substances produced by synthetic process, measures stricter than the provisions of the convention.
- (2)
- The Government of the United States reserves the right to impose, for purposes of controlling transit through its territories of raw opium, coca leaves, all of their derivatives and similar substances produced by synthetic process, measures by which the production of an import permit issued by the country of destination may be made a condition precedent to the granting of permission for transit through its territory.
- (3)
- The Government of the United States finds it impracticable to undertake to send statistics of import and export to the Permanent Central Opium Board short of 60 days after the close of the 3 months period to which such statistics refer.
- (4)
- The Government of the United States finds it impracticable to undertake to state separately amounts of drugs purchased or imported for Government purposes.
- (5)
- The plenipotentiaries of the United States of America formally declare that the signing of the convention for limiting the manufacture and regulating the distribution of narcotic drugs, by them, on the part of the United States of America, on this date, is not to be construed to mean that the Government of the United States of America recognizes a régime or entity which signs or accedes to the convention as the government of a country when that regime or entity is not recognized by the Government of the United States of America as the government of that country.
- (6)
- The plenipotentiaries of the United States of America further declare that the participation of the United States of America in the convention for limiting the manufacture and regulating the distribution of narcotic drugs, signed on this date, does not involve any contractual obligation on the part of the United States of America to a country represented by a régime or entity which the Government of the United States of America does not recognize as the government of that country, until such country has a government recognized by the Government of the United States of America.
- 2.
- The Delegation should refrain from signing the Final Act. While
the United States is in sympathy with the general purpose of this
document it is not considered that the United States, which is not a
member of the League of Nations, can, in this instance, properly
join in making recommendations to the League to initiate action in
regard to details of narcotics limitation. There are also technical
objections to a number of the clauses. To avoid creating the
impression that this Government is not in sympathy with the general
purpose of the Final Act, the Chairman of the Delegation, after
signing the Convention, should send or deliver to the President of
the Conference the following letter
“My dear Mr. President: It is with real pleasure that I am able to inform you that the American Delegation has today signed, with the authorization of its Government, both the Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, and the Protocol of Signature. Although we have not signed the Final Act, this failure to sign should not be construed as indicating any lack of sympathy with the general objectives of the recommendations themselves.
My colleagues on the American Delegation and I wish before leaving Geneva to renew to you expression of our appreciation of the effective skill and friendly tact with which you have presided over our deliberations.”
- Signed by the American delegation on July 18, 1931.↩