740.00111A.R.–N.C./16
The Director General of the Pan American Union (Rowe) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to send to you the enclosed copy of an English translation of the cable communication [Page 270] of January 23, 1940,23 received from Dr. Afranio de Mello Franco. Chairman of the Inter-American Committee on Neutrality, which was established by the General Declaration of the Neutrality of the American Republics approved at the recent Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics at Panama. In the cablegram received from Dr. Mello Franco he requests the Pan American Union to consult the member governments, relative to the functions which appertain to the said Committee with respect to the problems that arise under the Declaration of Panama, approved at the above-mentioned Meeting.
In accordance with the request contained in the said cable communication from Dr. Afranio de Mello Franco, permit me to inquire if the Government of the United States is in accord that the Inter-American Committee on Neutrality should consider “the problems that come up by virtue of the Declaration of Panama relative to the Safety Zone, concerning the possibility that this Committee might formulate recommendations, both as to the conditions that seem to give rise to the difficulties of assuring the observance of the Declaration of Panama, and as to the possible means and methods of obtaining more easily and effectively the observance of the same Declaration on the part of the belligerents.” The above quotation is taken textually from the cablegram of Dr. Mello Franco.
In view of the desire expressed by the Inter-American Committee on Neutrality to be informed without delay of the collective reply of the American Republics to its inquiry, I shall appreciate it if you will be good enough to inform the Pan American Union at the earliest possible moment of the point of view of the Government of the United States with respect to the question raised by the Committee.
I beg to remain [etc.]
- Printed in Minutes of the Sessions Held by the Inter-American Neutrality Committee, Appendix A, Law and Treaty Series No. 15, p. 53.↩