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                                PAPER II

". . . Modern weapons of offense are vastly stronger than modern weapons 
of defense . . . fixed fortifications . . . are no longer impregnable to 
the attack of war planes, heavy mobile artillery, land battleships 
called tanks . . ."

Message to the Nations of the World appealing for Peace by Disarmament 
   and the end of Economic Chaos, by cable from Washington, D. C., 
   May 16, 1933 

A profound hope of the people of my country impels me, as the head of 
their Government, to address you and, through you, the people of your 
Nation. This hope is that peace may be assured through practical 
measures of disarmament and that all of us may carry to victory our 
common struggle against economic chaos. 

To these ends the Nations have called two great World Conferences. The 
happiness, the prosperity, and the very lives of the men, women and 
children who inhabit the whole world are bound up in the decisions which 
their Governments will make in the near future. The improvement of 
social conditions the preservation of individual human rights, and the 
furtherance of social justice are dependent upon these decisions. 

The World Economic Conference will meet soon and must come to its 
conclusions quickly. The world cannot await deliberations long drawn 
out. The Conference must establish order in place of the present chaos 
by a stabilization of currencies, by freeing the flow of world trade, 
and by international action to raise price levels. It must, in short, 
supplement individual domestic programs for economic recovery, by wise 
and considered international action. 

The Disarmament Conference has labored for more than a year and, as yet, 
has been unable to reach satisfactory conclusions. Confused purposes 
still clash dangerously. Our duty lies in the direction of bringing 
practical results through concerted action based upon the greatest good 
to the greatest number. Before the imperative call of his great duty, 
petty obstacles must be swept away and petty aims forgotten. A selfish 
victory is always destined to be an ultimate defeat. The furtherance of 
durable peace for our generation in every part of the world is the only 
goal worthy of our best efforts. 

If we ask what are the reasons for armaments, which, in spite of the 
lessons and tragedies of the World War, are today a greater burden on 
the peoples of the earth than ever before, it becomes clear that they 
are two-fold: first, the desire, disclosed or hidden, on the part of 
Governments to enlarge their territories at the expense of a sister 
Nation and I believe that only a small minority of Governments or of 
peoples harbor such a purpose; second, the fear of Nations that they 
will be invaded. I believe that the overwhelming majority of peoples 
feel obliged to retain excessive armaments because they fear 

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some act of aggression against them and not because they themselves seek 
to be aggressors. 

There is justification for this fear. Modern weapons of offense are 
vastly stronger than modern weapons of defense. Frontier forts, 
trenches, wire entanglements, coast defenses-in a word, fixed 
fortifications-are no longer impregnable to the attack of war planes, 
heavy mobile artillery, land battleships called tanks, and poison gas. 

If all Nations will agree wholly to eliminate from possession and use 
the weapons which make possible a successful attack, defenses 
automatically will become impregnable, and the frontiers and 
independence of every Nation will become secure. 

The ultimate objective of the Disarmament Conference must be the 
complete elimination of all offensive weapons. The immediate objective 
is a substantial reduction of some of these weapons and the elimination 
of many others. 

This Government believes that the program for immediate reduction of 
aggressive weapons, now under discussion at Geneva, is but a first step 
toward our ultimate goal. We do not believe that the proposed immediate 
steps go far enough. Nevertheless, this Government welcomes the measures 
now proposed and will exert its influence toward the attainment of 
further successive steps of disarmament. 

Stated in the clearest way, there are three steps to be agreed upon in 
the present discussions: 

First, to take, at once, the first definite step toward this objective, 
as broadly outlined in the MacDonald Plan. 

Second, to agree upon time and procedure for taking the following steps. 

Third, to agree that while the first and the following steps are being 
taken, no Nation shall increase its existing armaments over and above 
the limitations of treaty obligations. 

But the peace of the world must be assured during the whole period of 
disarmament and I, therefore, propose a fourth step concurrent with and 
wholly dependent on the faithful fulfillment of these three proposals 
and subject to existing treaty rights: 

That all the Nations of the world should enter into a solemn and 
definite pact of non-aggression; that they should solemnly reaffirm the 
obligations they have assumed to limit and reduce their armaments, and, 
provided these obligations are faithfully executed by all signatory 
powers, individually agree that they will send no armed force of 
whatsoever nature across their frontiers. 

Common sense points out that if any strong Nation refuses to join with 
genuine sincerity in these concerted efforts for political and economic 
peace, the one at Geneva and the other at London, progress can be 
obstructed and ultimately blocked. In such event the civilized world, 
seeking both forms of peace, will know where the responsibility for 
failure lies. I urge that no Nation assume such a responsibility, and 
that all the Nations joined in these great conferences translate their 
professed policies into action. This is the way to political and 
economic peace. 

I trust that your Government will join in the fulfillment of these 
hopes. 

The foregoing message was cabled to the Sovereigns and Presidents of the 
Nations listed below:

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His Majesty Zog I, King of the Albanians, Tirana, Albania. 
His Excellency Augustin P. Justo, President of the Argentine Nation, 
    Buenos Aires Argentina. 
His Excellency Wilhelm Miklas, President of the Confederation of 
    Austria, Vienna. Austria. 
His Majesty Albert, King of the Belgians, Brussels, Belgium. 
His Excellency Getulio Vargas, President of the United States of Brazil, 
    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
His Excellency Daniel Salamanca, President of Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia. 
His Majesty Boris III, King of the Bulgarians, Sofia, Bulgaria. 
His Excellency Arturo Alessandri, President of the Republic of Chile, 
    Santiago, Chile. 
His Excellency Enrique Olaya Herrera. President of the Republic of 
    Colombia Bogota, Colombia. 
His Excellency Lin Sen, President of the National Government of the 
    Republic of China, Nanking, China. 
His Excellency Ricardo Jimenez, President of Costa Rica, San Jose Costa 
    Rica. 
His Excellency Gerardo Machado, President of the Republic of Cuba, 
    Habana, Cuba 
His Excellency Thomas G. Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia, Praha, 
    Czechoslovakia. 
His Majesty Christian X, King of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. 
His Excellency Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, President of the Dominican 
    Republic, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 
His Excellency Juan de Dios Martinez Mira, President of the Republic of 
    Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador. 
His Majesty Fouad I, King of Egypt, Cairo, Egypt. 
His Majesty George V, The King of Great Britain, Ireland, and the 
    British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, etc., etc., 
    London, England. 
His Excellency Konstantin Pats, Head of State, Tallinn, Estonia. 
His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, Addis 
    Ababa, Ethiopia. 
His Excellency Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, The President of Finland, 
    Helsingfors, Finland. 
His Excellency M. Albert Lebrun, President of the French Republic, 
    Paris, France. 
His Excellency Field Marshal Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, 
    President of the Reich, Berlin, Germany. 
His Excellency Alexander Zaimis, President of the Hellenic Republic, 
    Athens, Greece. 
His Excellency Jorge Ubico, President of the Republic of Guatemala, 
    Guatemala, Guatemala. 
His Excellency Stenio Vincent, President of Haiti, Port au Prince, 
    Haiti. 
His Excellency Tiburcio Carias A., Constitutional President of the 
    Republic of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 
His Serene Highness Admiral Nicholas De Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom of 
    Hungary, Budapest, Hungary. 
His Majesty Faisal I, King of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq. 
His Majesty Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, Rome, Italy. 

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His Majesty Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, Tokyo, Japan.
His Excellency Alberts Kviesis, President of the Republic of Latvia, 
    Riga, Latvia. 
His Excellency Antanas Smetona, President of the Republic of Lithuania, 
    Kaunas, Lithuania. 
Her Royal Highness Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 
    G. D. 
His Excellency General Abelardo L. Rodriguez, President of the United 
    Mexican States, Mexico City, Mexico. 
Her Majesty Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, The Hague, 
    Netherlands. 
His Excellency Juan B. Sacasa, President of the Republic of Nicaragua, 
    Managua, Nicaragua.
His Majesty Haakon VII, King of Norway, Oslo, Norway.
His Excellency Harmodio Arias, President of Panama, Panama, Panama. 
His Excellency Eusebio Ayala, President of the Republic of Paraguay, 
    Asuncion, Paraguay. 
His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlevi, Shah of Persia, Teheran, 
    Persia. 
His Excellency General Oscar Benavides, President of Peru, Lima, Peru. 
His Excellency Ignace Moscicki, President of the, Republic of Poland, 
    Warsaw, Poland. 
His Excellency General Antonio Oscar de Fragoso Carmona, President of 
    the Republic of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal. 
His Majesty Carol II, King of Rumania, Bucharest, Rumania. 
President Michail Kalinin, All Union Central Executive Committee, 
    Moscow, Russia. 
His Majesty Prajadhipok, King of Siam, Bangkok, Siam. 
His Excellency Alcala Zamora, President of the Spanish Republic, Madrid, 
    Spain. 
His Majesty Gustaf V, King of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden. 
His Excellency Edmond Schulthess, President of the Swiss Confederation, 
    Berne, Switzerland. 
His Excellency Gazi Mustafa Kemal, President of the Turkish Republic, 
    Ankara, Turkey. 
His Excellency Gabriel Terra, President of the Republic of Uruguay, 
    Montevideo, Uruguay. 
His Excellency Juan V. Gomez, President of the United States of 
    Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. 
His Majesty Alexander I, King of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.