500.A15A4 Military Effectives/27: Telegram
The Acting Chairman of the American Delegation (Gibson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 15—9:20 p.m.]
248. In the course of conversation with Herriot referred to in my 249, June 15, 11 p.m.,40 I told him that we attached real importance to our idea for dealing with effectives and that we hoped after the long period which had been afforded the French delegation for examining it that it would be possible for them to join us in some way [Page 172] in its presentation. He did not commit himself but said that he would do his best.
Sir John Simon tells me that he has gone over the matter with his advisers and that the British delegation will support us in any way we desire.
Grandi told me this afternoon that he was very anxious to cooperate with us and had in fact given instructions to his military advisers to find some way of rendering the project acceptable so that Italy should not be in the position of having to oppose anything put forward by us. He raised several points which gave him concern but I believe we were able to explain these to his satisfaction and I think that the idea is fundamentally acceptable to him now. His only real objection was that he felt that if the plan were brought forward precisely at [this] moment there was a real danger that it might be used as a curtain behind which all activity on the more pressing questions of qualitative abolition and limitation would be dropped. He said that of course a limitation of effectives was important but that it must be supplementary to limitation of armament and stocks in that he considered the latter a more real limitation to the aggressive power of a nation than the mere reduction of the numbers of trained men. He said that experience has shown that in about 3 months in case of necessity you can create an army of almost indefinite force whereas the same was not true as regards stocks particularly for a country not highly industrialized.
- Infra. ↩