DISCOVERY MADE IN U.S. ARCHIVES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27683, 13 June 1955, Page 10

DISCOVERY MADE IN U.S. ARCHIVES

FORGOTTEN TREATIES

[By a Staff Correspondent in New York of the “Sydney Morning Herald”)

The American State Departmei own embarrassment, that it has at 1< files which it had almost completi departmental spokesman conceded, < Two men long in their graves were j indirectly responsible for the discovery. i One, William Jennings Bryan, died 30 years ago at the pinnacle of the world-wide renown he had won as the victorious prosecutor in the famous “Tennessee monkey trial.” The other was an obscure Frenchman, Mr Gabriel Hanotaux, who dica at his home in Paris during the war. The passing of Mr Hanotaux created a vacancy on the United StatesSwedish Commission for the Advancement of Peace, and it was the filling 11 years later by President Eisenhower of this vacancy that led to the unearthing of the forgotten treaties. Mr Eisenhower nominated for the appointment the French historian Andre Siegfried, making him the “nonnational member’’ of the commission. When they heard of the appointment, reporters in Washington sought information about the commission and an explanation of why a Frenchman had been chosen for an American-Swedish organisation. What manner of organisation was the commission, they inquiredState Department press officers were unable to help. Said one of them briefly, “Never heard of it. “What does it do?” The baffled reporters were advised to try the historical division of the State Department, and were there referred to the Office of the Legal Adviser, Treaty Staff. There they encountered Miss Helen Zilch. Miss Zilch is a career “treaty analyst” and proved, as it seemed, the only person in Washington who not only knew that the treaties existed but was well informed also on their contents and their original purposes. In so far as the Swedish Commission was concerned, she explained to me that a treaty setting up the commission was signed by William Jennings Bryan, then Secretary of State, and the Swedish Ambassador on October 13, 1914. two months after the start of World War I. It provided for a commission which would iron out any dispute that might arise between the United States and Sweden, without recourse to war. There were to be five members of the commission, two from each country, and one “non-national” from a third country. This post went to Mr Hanotaux.

From the day of its founding, the commission had never done a stitch

nt nas discovered, somewhat M east 32 perfectly valid treaties in u ely forgotten about. There mav « even be more. Search is proceeding ;of work. The members have r. ceived not a penny of pay Th have elected a chairman, but he h/ I never taken the chair because th commission has never held a meetin? "It is a sort of an honorary thini-* explained Miss Zilch patiently “Trf not many people have heard of thZ commission and it doesn’t do anvthi.l? But people who get appointed to it & the President like it. It’s mainly r suppose, seeing their names in* ’ papers. Kind of harmless, I guess •• There is no intention to enliven th. commission now, for happily there i a total absence of disagreements hJ 8 tween the United States and Swpd» The treaty, like the other 31. is simS a monument to good intentions 7 Mr Bryan conceived them as needed for a "cooling off” period. The world in his time, as in ours, was somewhat jumpy and an ‘‘incident” (such as th# assassination of a member of a Royal family in a Balkan town) could lead at any time to angry recriminations, threats and war. It would be a good idea, thought Mr Bryan, if this country and others would agree to renounce such violent courses lor, say. a year. So he organised and brought to signature ■ whole series of what are now known as ‘‘cooling-off treaties.” With Russia In 1915, for example, one was signed with Tsarist Russia, then nearly on its last legs. In 1939, the State Department rather hopefully suggested to the Soviet Government that since there was technically a commission in existence, some appointments might be made to it. The Soviet Government thought little of the idea and replied in studiously diplomatic language that the instrument had been concluded “in different circumstances” and. in iti view, had “lost its significance.” The original brain-child of William Jennings Bryan brought into existence treaties with Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, France’ Great Britain, Holland, Norway’ Paraguay, Persia, Portugal, and Spain’ Bryan died in 1y25, five days after his winning of the monkey trial case against the skilful defence of the famous Clarence Darrow. Not one of the treaties had ever been invoked. “But they are all here,” said Mis« Zilch. “They are all on proper treaty paper, real parchment some of them. Some of them are typed, others of the earlier days are engrossed and have wax seals and tapes. And. of course, all of them are signed by the various statesmen of their time.”