PROMOTION OF PEACE ARBITRATION, CONCILIATION, AND JUDICIAL BILATERAL TREATIES OF ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION Turkey-Rumania According to a report from the American consulate general at Istanbul dated March 31, 1934, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratified on March 6, 1934, the treaty of friendship, nonaggression, arbitration, and conciliation between Turkey and Rumania, signed October 17, 1933.1 Turkey-Yugoslavia According to a report from the American consulate general at Istanbul dated March 31, 1934, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratified on March 6, 1934, the treaty of friendship, nonaggression, judicial settlement, arbitration, and conciliation between Turkey and Yugoslavia, signed November 27, 1933.2 Peru GENERAL TREATY OF INTER-AMERICAN ARBITRATION 3 The Peruvian Ambassador at Washington deposited with the Department of State on May 23, 1934, the instrument of ratification by Peru of the general treaty of inter-American arbitration signed at Washington January 5, 1929. PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE SPECIAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN BELGIUM AND GREAT BRITAIN FOR ARBITRATION IN THE CASE OF OSCAR CHINN, A BRITISH SUBJECT By a communication dated May 4, 1934, the Registrar of the Permanent Court of International Justice transmitted to the Secretary of State a copy of a special arbitration agreement between Belgium See Bulletin No. 52, January 1934, p. 1. 3 See Bulletins No. 52, January 1934, p. 4, and No. 53, February 1934, p. 1. and Great Britain, signed April 13, 1934. Both Governments agree to submit for decision to the Permanent Court of International Justice the dispute over the claims for loss and damages alleged to have been sustained by Mr. Oscar Chinn, a British subject, in the Belgian Congo as the result of measures taken by the Belgian Government which are alleged to be in conflict with the international obligations of that Government. The letter of the British Government transmitting the agreement to the Court states that the case will raise questions as to the construction of certain articles of the convention signed at Saint Germain-en-Laye on September 10, 1919, revising the general act of Berlin, 1885, and the declaration of Brussels dated July 2, 1890. ARMAMENT REDUCTION LONDON NAVAL TREATY OF 1930 Japan By a note dated May 16, 1934, the Japanese Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State, in accordance with the provisions of article 10 of the London naval treaty, of the laying of the keels of two vessels of the Japanese Navy. The particulars of the vessels are given as follows: Kumano Classification: Cruiser Date of laying keel: April 4, 1934 Standard displacement: 8,500 tons (8,636 metric tons) Extreme beam: 18.20 meters Mean draft at standard displacement: 4.50 meters Caliber of largest gun: 15.5 centimeters No. A-73 Classification: Submarine Date of laying keel: April 5, 1934 Standard displacement: 1,400 tons (1,423 metric tons) Length at water line: 101.00 meters Extreme beam: 8.20 meters Mean draft at standard displacement: 3.95 meters United States By a letter dated May 2, 1934, the Secretary of the Navy informed the Secretary of State of the completion of the U.S.S. San Francisco on April 23, 1934. The particulars of this vessel which, in accordance with the provisions of article 10 of the London naval treaty, have been communicated to the parties to the treaty are given as follows: Classification: Cruiser Standard displacement: 9,950 tons (10,109 metric tons) Extreme beam at or below water line: 61 feet 9 inches By a letter dated May 9, 1934, the Secretary of the Navy informed the Secretary of State of the completion on April 18, 1934, of the U.S.S. New Orleans. In conformity with the provisions of article 10 of the London naval treaty, particulars of this vessel have been furnished as follows to the parties to the treaty: Standard displacement: 9,950 tons (10,109 metric tons) Extreme beam at or below water line: 61 feet 9 inches The Acting Secretary of the Navy informed the Secretary of State by a letter dated May 25, 1934, of the laying of the keel of the U.S.S. Balch on May 16, 1934. Particulars of the vessel which have been furnished to the parties to the London naval treaty are given as follows: Classification: Destroyer Standard displacement (estimated): 1,850 tons (1,880 metric tons) Length at water line: 372 feet Extreme beam at or below water line: 32 feet 3 inches ARMS TRAFFIC CONVENTION FOR THE SUPERVISION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ARMS AND AMMUNITION AND IN IMPLEMENTS OF WAR Iraq The American Ambassador to France transmitted to the Secretary of State with a despatch dated May 12, 1934, a certified copy of the notification of the accession of Iraq to the convention for the supervision of the international trade in arms and ammunition and in implements of war, signed at Geneva June 17, 1925. This notifica 'See Bulletins No. 19, April 1931, p. 5, and No. 40, January 1933, p. 4. 65580-34 tion of accession was addressed to the French Government on February 20, 1934, and became effective on April 8, 1934. United States On April 12, 1934, the Secretary of State sent the following letter to Senator Pittman, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate: MY DEAR SENATOR PITTMAN: It is my understanding that the Convention for the supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, signed at Geneva, June 17, 1925, and transmitted by President Coolidge to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification on January 11, 1926, is still before the Committee on Foreign Relations. I should greatly appreciate it if you could take such steps as you may deem appropriate to secure favorable action on this Convention by the Committee and by the Senate. Since this Convention was transmitted to the Senate, the Department has, on several occasions, urged that it be given favorable consideration, and President Hoover, in a message of January 10, 1933, recommended that the Senate give its advice and consent to its ratification. The President is entirely in accord with the views of his two immediate predecessors in regard to the advisability of the ratification of this Convention by this Government. Enlightened public opinion throughout the world has, for many years, urged the adoption on the international plane of measures of supervision and control of the international traffic in arms. A Convention to this end was signed by the representatives of twentyeight governments, including our own, at St. Germain en Laye and Paris on September 10, 1919. This Convention was in several respects unsatisfactory to this Government, and it was never submitted to the Senate. As long as the United States, which is one of the principal arms manufacturing powers, refused to ratify the Convention of St. Germain, the other powers naturally refused to subject themselves to limitations which would have resulted, not in the control of the arms traffic, but in its transfer to those countries which were not parties to the Convention. Other governments, realizing the necessity for some measure of supervision and control of the international traffic in arms, urged us on several occasions to state our objections to the Convention of St. Germain in order that a new Convention might be drawn up from which these objections would be eliminated. As a result of this attitude on the part of other governments, meetings, at which this Government was represented, were held in Geneva in 1924, and these meetings resulted in the drafting of a new Convention, which contained none of the features of the Convention of St. Germain to which this Government had made objection. The Arms Traffic Convention of 1925 is, in all essentials, based upon this Draft Convention. The whole history of the Convention is, therefore, such as to constitute for this Government a moral obligation to ratify it. The important provisions of the Convention are those limiting the export of arms to those intended for the direct supply of the |