500.A14/671: Telegram
The American Delegate to the General Disarmament Conference (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 21—9:25 a.m.]
910. Your 162, June 20, 7 p.m. I share the concern of the Department in respect of that portion of the reservation which pertains to the Persian Gulf.
Negotiations are advancing with some measure of success in respect to manufacture of and trade in arms.22 The British delegation though somewhat reluctant is acquiescing in the program which we are sponsoring. Attaching as they do high importance to the special provisions of the Treaty of 1925 the Senate’s reservation may make them still more reluctant to acquiesce in provisions in the Disarmament Convention for a comprehensive control in respect to the production of and trade in armaments which may involve amendments to the 1925 Convention.
I recognize the value [in?] its external effect of our ratification of the 1925 Convention but the reservation respecting the Persian Gulf raises so many difficulties both immediately and in respect to international law that I hope the President will consider whether in view of all the circumstances he should permit it to become law.
Repeated to London for Davis.