550 E 1/78a
The Secretary of State to the Italian Ambassador (Ricci)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note8 transmitting the invitation addressed by the Italian Government to the Government of the United States to take part in an “economic and financial” conference to be convened at Genoa pursuant to the resolution adopted on January 6, 1922, by the Allied Governments in conference at Cannes.
I have also received your later notes with respect to American representation, the proposed agenda, and the postponement of the date of the Conference.9
Since the receipt of Your Excellency’s first note, the question of American participation in the proposed conference has had the most earnest attention. I am sure that you will realize that the Government of the United States must take a deep interest in any conference [Page 393] which holds promise of effective measures to promote the economic rehabilitation of Europe, since not only do we keenly desire the return of prosperity to the peoples who have suffered most severely from the wastes and dislocations of war, but it is also manifest that there can be no improvement in world conditions in the absence of European recuperation. It is with this sympathetic spirit, and with the utmost reluctance to withhold its support from any appropriate effort to attain this object, that the Government of the United States has examined the resolution adopted at Cannes and the suggested agenda for the Conference.
I regret to inform Your Excellency that, as a result of this examination, it has been found impossible to escape the conclusion that the proposed Conference is not primarily an economic conference, as questions appear to have been excluded from consideration without the satisfactory determination of which the chief causes of economic disturbance must continue to operate, but is rather a conference of a political character in which the Government of the United States could not helpfully participate. This Government cannot be unmindful of the clear conviction of the American people, while desirous, as has been abundantly demonstrated, suitably to assist in the recovery of the economic life of Europe, that they should not unnecessarily become involved in European political questions.
It may be added, with respect to Russia, that this Government, anxious to do all in its power to promote the welfare of the Russian people, views with the most eager and friendly interest every step taken toward the restoration of economic conditions which will permit Russia to regain her productive power, but these conditions, in the view of this Government, cannot be secured until adequate action is taken on the part of those chiefly responsible for Russia’s present economic disorder.
It is also the view of this Government—and it trusts that this view is shared by the governments who have called the Conference—that, while awaiting the establishment of the essential bases of productivity in Russia, to which reference was made in the public declaration of this Government on March 25, 1921,10 and without which this Government believes all consideration of economic revival to be futile, nothing should be done looking to the obtaining of economic advantages in Russia which would impair the just opportunities of others, but that the resources of the Russian people should be free from such exploitation and that fair and equal economic opportunity in their interest, as well as in the interest of all the Powers, should be preserved.
[Page 394]While this Government does not believe that it should participate in the proposed Conference, it sincerely hopes that progress may be made in preparing the way for the eventual discussion and settlement of the fundamental economic and financial questions relating to European recuperation which press for solution.
Accept [etc.]