I would advert to the traditional attitude of the United States on the subject of immigration as set forth by the American delegates to the Habana Conference to the effect that the Government of the United States considers the control of immigration to be a matter of purely domestic concern, representing the exercise of a sovereign right, and that, so far as the United States is concerned, the authority of its Congress in immigration matters is exclusive. In view of the very definite manner in which the Congress has exercised this authority, particularly in the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, and considering the fundamental divisions of opinion on the subject of immigration which developed at the Habana Conference, this Government is constrained to state that in its view no useful purpose is served by such Conferences other than the exchange of technical information, an aim which it believes can be satisfactorily achieved by direct correspondence between Governments and international organizations. The Government of the United States must therefore state that under existing circumstances it is not disposed to adhere to the resolution in question nor to participate in a third International Conference on Emigration and Immigration, and I should be grateful if you would be good enough to convey its views, with regard to the holding of a third International Conference on Emigration and Immigration, as here expressed, to the appropriate quarter. Accept [etc.] FRANK B. KELLOGG SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN STATES, HELD AT HABANA, JANUARY 16 TO FEBRUARY 20, 19281 710.F/6 Preliminaries The Cuban Chargé (Barón) to the Secretary of State [Translation] WASHINGTON, December 17, 1926. EXCELLENCY: The Fifth American International Conference held at Santiago, capital of the Republic of Chile, in 1923,2 resolved to 1See also Sixth International Conference of American States, Habana, Cuba, January 16, 1928, Special Handbook for the Use of Delegates, prepared by the Pan American Union (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1927); Program and Regulations of the Sixth International Conference of American States, To Assemble at Habana, Cuba, January 16, 1928, Adopted by the Governing Board of the Pan American Union (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1927); Sixth International Conference of American States, Havana, 1928, Final Act; also Report of the Delegates of the United States of America to the Sixth International Conference of American States, Held at Habana, Cuba, January 16 to February 20, 1928, With Appendices (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1928). 'See Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 286 ff; also, Report of the Delegates of the United States of America to the Fifth International Conference of American States, Held at Santiago, Chile, March 25 to May 3, 1923, With Appendices (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1924). name Habana, capital of the Republic of Cuba, for the place where the Sixth American International Conference shall meet, and the Cuban Government with the approval of the Pan American Union, has decided to open the said conference on the sixteenth of January, 1928. In the name of the Government of Cuba I have the honor to invite the Government of the United States to be represented at the Sixth American International Conference and to say that my Government is greatly interested in having Your Excellency's Government send its delegates to the said conference, which, by virtue of its great labors which it is to carry out, will prove a substantial tie and strong foundation for genuine American brotherhood. The program of the Sixth American International Conference will be directly delivered by the Pan American Union to Your Excellency's Government as soon as it is finally approved. My Government would be grateful if the Government, in the event of accepting the invitation, would kindly let it know as soon as possible the names and number of its delegates. I avail myself [etc.] JOSÉ BARÓN 710.F/6 The Secretary of State to the Cuban Chargé (Barón) WASHINGTON, January 6, 1927. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Embassy's note of December 17, 1926, by which I am informed that the Cuban Government has decided to open the Sixth International Conference of American States on January 16, 1928, and the Government of the United States is invited by the Government of Cuba to participate therein by delegates. In reply you are informed that the Government of the United States accepts the invitation with pleasure, and that you will be advised at a later date as to the number and the names of its delegates. Note is taken of your statement that the program of the Conference will be delivered to this Government by the Pan American Union as soon as it shall have been finally approved. Accept [etc.] For the Secretary of State: 710.F/122a: Telegram The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Cuba (Curtis) [Paraphrase] WASHINGTON, November 8, 1927—7 p. m. 85. The New York Times this morning publishes a despatch with Geneva date line as follows: 3 "At the request of the Cuban Government, the League of Nations has decided to send a member of the League Secretariat to Habana to follow the proceedings of the Pan American Union Conference in January." Please bring this press statement immediately to the attention of the Foreign Minister and ask him if it is correct. If the answer is in the affirmative, you will please state the views of the Government of the United States as set forth in the enclosure to instruction No. 1086, October 26, 1927. You may add that the Government of the United States feels that no non-American nation or entity should participate or be present at the Pan American Conferences, and it hopes that the Government of Cuba will concur in this view and will not have any such representatives present. You should make it clearly understood that no criticism or disparagement of the League of Nations is intended, when it is observed that the Pan American Conference is organized upon a separate and distinct basis. The League of Nations is intended to be world-wide in its scope and a number of American States are members of the League of Nations and are thus able to express their viewpoints on matters of world-wide import which come before the attention of the Council and the Assembly of the League of Nations, respectively. The Pan American Conferences have their existence because of the distinct interests of the American States which, without any antagonism to any world relationship, make it desirable for these States to confer with respect to the problems which relate expressly to the States of the Western Hemisphere. Participation in the Pan American Conference of representatives of the League of Nations would bring to the Conference the policies and viewpoints of States which are members of the League of Nations and are not American States and thus the nature of the Conference itself would be fundamentally altered. The scope of the Pan American Conference is confined to aims and interests of this hemisphere, and the integrity of the Conference as an exclusively American conference should be maintained if its usefulness is to be preserved. Quotation not paraphrased. • Not printed. Should the Government of Cuba have issued such an invitation, you will call attention to article 22 of the regulations of the Sixth International Conference of American States which provides: 5 "Attendance at the deliberations of the Conference shall be confined to the following: The delegates with their respective secretaries and attachés; the Director or other accredited representative of the Pan American Union and his secretary; the secretaries of the sessions; the interpreters and stenographers of the Conference; such representatives of the press as are properly accredited and as are approved by the Committee on Organization; and the authorized attendants: Provided, however, That the Conference may by a majority vote extend the courtesies of the Conference to such persons as it may at any time designate." You may state in this connection that perhaps the Government of Cuba had not yet received copies of these regulations when it issued the invitation, and that the provision of this article might conveniently afford a way out, permitting the Government of Cuba to inform the League of Nations that, on account of this, it would not be possible for a representative of the League of Nations to attend the Conference unless and until the Conference, by a majority vote, should extend to him the courtesy of the Conference. You may also request an audience of the President and express the same views to him if you deem it to be necessary. KELLOGG 710.F/123: Telegram The Chargé in Cuba (Curtis) to the Secretary of State HABANA, November 9, 1927-3 p. m. 108. Department's 85, November 8, 7 p. m. Minister for Foreign Affairs sent for me this morning, and referring to a telegram from Cuban Ambassador at Washington informed me that the Cuban Government not only did not invite a representative of League of Nations to be present at forthcoming Conference but that when the Secretary General requested an invitation it was refused. The Spanish Chargé d'Affaires, Habana, also approached the Cuban Government and was refused an invitation for his Government to be represented. 'Quotation not paraphrased. CURTIS 710.F/130 The Chargé in Cuba (Curtis) to the Secretary of State No. 2352 HABANA, November 9, 1927. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department's cable No. 85, November 8, 7 P. M., 1927, concerning a newspaper report to the effect that the League of Nations has been invited by the Cuban Government to send an observer to attend the meetings of the Sixth Pan American Conference, to be held in Habana next January. Before the deciphering of the above mentioned cable had been completed I received a message that the Cuban Secretary of State wished me to come to see him. In accordance with his request I called to see him later in the morning. He opened our conversation by giving me information on a subject of decidedly minor importance and then, of his own accord, brought up the subject of the Department's cable, concerning which he had received a cable from the Cuban Ambassador in Washington. He stated that the reports which had been appearing in the foreign press and even in the Habana newspapers to the effect that Cuba had invited the League of Nations to send an observer were not merely inaccurate but absolutely contrary to the facts; that the Secretary of the League of Nations had approached the Cuban Secretary at Geneva, Mr. William de Blanc, and had stated that the secretaryship of the League of Nations would greatly appreciate the opportunity to have an observer at the meetings of the Conference; that Mr. de Blanc had promptly cabled to the Secretary of State, who immediately replied to the effect that the Cuban Government was not in a position to extend any such invitation under any circumstances and that its position as host to the delegations of the other American nations would make it an act of discourtesy for it even to suggest to those nations that such an invitation might be extended. He further read to me the text of a cable, which was at that moment being enciphered for transmission to Ambassador Ferrara, repeating the statements which he had just made to me and adding assurances of the great desire of the Cuban Government to cooperate with that of the United States in every way concerning all matters connected with the Pan American Conference. In view of the Secretary's voluntary action in giving me all the information which I could have desired, I made no mention to him of the cable from the Department, since I felt that Ambassador Ferrara had probably already emphasized sufficiently the Department's interest in the matter and I did not desire the Secretary to feel that this Embassy was further attempting to influence the attitude of the Cuban Government in this matter. In connection with the foregoing the Cuban Secretary of State informed me that just after his return from his long vacation, on October |