500.A15/221a: Circular telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Herrick)
The address which the Secretary is delivering today in New York at the Associated Press Luncheon refers among other subjects to American representation on the Preparatory Commission for the Limitation of Armaments. After briefly discussing the situation in China and the logical development of American policy toward China pursuant to the treaties concluded at the Washington Conference of 1922, the Secretary states:
“The other agreements reached at this same Conference in Washington may be viewed as milestones in the orderly development of the established policies of this Government. Thus, in matters relating to the limitation of armament, we have agreed to be represented on a Commission which is shortly to meet at Geneva to consider the general problem of arms limitation. This Commission, as its name discloses, is a Preparatory Commission. It is not a conference to conclude definite treaties or agreements but to discover the proposals which can be laid before a future conference or conferences with the greatest hope of success. Its purpose is to prepare the ground work for the future by an orderly and exhaustive consideration of the problem.
The desire for further limitation of armaments is universal but with that desire there is a most natural demand for security. We would not be candid with ourselves or just to others if we did not recognize the peculiarly fortunate situation of our own country in this respect. With our detached position and our geographic isolation from those areas of the world where conflicting territorial or political issues have led to the maintenance of large standing armies, we have been able to reduce our land forces from the more than 4,000,000 men under arms in 1918 to a present regular army of about 118,000 for the more than 118,000,000 of our own population and that of our over-seas possessions. Thus, as regards land armament we have voluntarily reduced to the minimum. We have every reason to rejoice that our situation has permitted this but no justification for overlooking the different problems with which other countries are faced. We would naturally welcome any steps which other powers might take toward the limitation of land armament; we shall be glad if we can at any time exert a helpful influence in this direction.
As regards naval armament this Government would welcome any practical steps which might tend toward the further limitation of competitive naval construction. In this connection it should be borne [Page 79] in mind that while a substantial part of the program presented to the Washington Conference by the American delegation was realized, no agreement was reached as to the limitation of competitive building of naval craft other than capital ships and aircraft carriers. This Government would welcome an agreement which would complete the work begun at Washington, particularly as there is danger that the competitive construction which formerly existed, particularly with respect to capital ships, may still be continued, in a less aggravated form it is true, with respect to cruisers and other types of naval craft not dealt with by the Washington Treaties. Our representatives at the Geneva meeting will help to the uttermost of their ability in preparing the way for agreements for the further limitation of naval armament at no distant date. Our people are practical idealists. They believe in dealing with what is visible and tangible. The dramatic success of the proposal by Mr. Hughes at the Washington Conference, based on tonnage allotments for capital ships, was due in no small measure to the fact that it dealt with real and measurable objects. Thus our representatives at Geneva will endeavor, as far as possible, to use their influence in favor of projects which may be practical in their application and realizable in their development.
Each definite move toward disarmament, small though it be, is of greater value for the promotion of world peace than ambitious and all inclusive projects which may be excellent in theory but which fail to take account of existing world problems. The questions which have been submitted for the consideration of the Preparatory Commission are very general and sweeping in character and until there has been some discussion it is impossible to determine what definite proposals can most profitably be advanced, but when the most practicable line of action is determined this Government can be counted upon to cooperate within the limits of its traditional policy in any serious effort toward the further limitation of the burden of armaments”.
In the event that you consider desirable or that garbled reports of this speech should appear you may give out foregoing quotation to the press.
The other sections of the Secretary’s speech in so far as they relate to foreign policy deal with China,81 our Treaty with Turkey,82 and Tacna and Arica.83
Repeat by telegraph to London, Brussels, Rome, Berne and Prague.