511.3 B 1/71

The Secretary of State to the Consul at Geneva (Haskell)

Sir: I enclose for delivery in the usual manner a communication to the Secretary General of the League of Nations, in reply to one addressed by him on November 21, 1921, inquiring whether the Government of the United States is prepared to ratify the Arms Traffic Convention of St. Germain.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
William Phillips
[Enclosure]

The Secretary of State to the Secretary General of the League of Nations (Drummond)

The communication which the Secretary General of the League of Nations addressed to the Secretary of State of the United States of America on November 21, 1921, has had careful consideration.

In that communication the Secretary General was so good as to bring to the knowledge of the Secretary of State a resolution adopted on October 1, 1921, by the Assembly of the League of Nations, suggesting that the importance of ratifying the Arms Traffic Convention of St. Germain, should be strongly impressed on all the States signatories thereto, whether members of the League of Nations or not, as well as the decision of the Council of the League that the Assembly’s resolution should be brought to the notice of all States which had not notified the League of their intentions on the subject.

In reply to the inquiry made by the Secretary General in pursuance of this action, whether the Government of the United States of America is prepared to ratify the Convention of St. Germain, the Secretary of State begs to state that the terms of the proposed Convention have been carefully examined and that, while the Government of the United States is in cordial sympathy with efforts to restrict traffic in arms and munitions of war, it finds itself unable to approve the provisions of the Convention and to give any assurance of its ratification.

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The Secretary of State also desires to call attention to the fact that the Government of the United States is desirous to cooperate for the purpose of suitably controlling traffic in arms and munitions and to this end the Congress of the United States has already enacted legislation providing that whenever the President finds that in any American country, or in any country in which the United States exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction, conditions of domestic violence exist, which are or may be promoted by the use of arms or munitions of war procured from the United States and makes proclamation thereof, it shall thereafter be unlawful to export, except under such limitations and exceptions as the President prescribes, any arms or munitions of war from any place in the United States to such country until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress.82

  1. 42 Stat. 361.