500.A15A4 Steering Committee/345: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 14—1:25 p.m.]
743. 1. Following Sir John’s and my declarations at the Bureau this morning the Italian delegate71 stated that his Government was happy to join with the other delegations in working along the lines laid down by Sir John Simon and felt that in the program put forward by the latter a positive basis was found for the future work of the Conference.
2. Boncour while supporting on behalf of France certain of the principles brought out by Simon stressed the importance of taking into account the political situation in Europe and laid great emphasis upon the necessity for the division of the convention into two periods the first of which would be that of installation and testing of the system of supervision. France attached great importance to this principle, he explained, and its corollary that during this first period there should be no rearmament whatsoever. He added that definite engagements must be taken by the heavily armed powers to achieve equality of status through substantial reductions in the second period. France considered that 4 years were required as the duration of this first period.
3. On behalf of Germany Rheinbaben made a declaration in which he stated that his Government had always put forward two claims in respect to disarmament, (1) the real and substantial measures of disarmament must be taken by the heavily armed powers and (2) immediate and practical application of equality of status. The question of quantities would later be negotiated.
4. The Belgian, Czechoslovak and Greek delegations supported Simon statement but following the lead given by Boncour emphasized the necessity for the first period.
5. Henderson proposed that Simon report should be presented to the General Commission for its consideration and the Bureau approved.
- Marquis A. Meli Lupi di Soragna.↩