Message to the Senate on the Manufacture of Arms and Munitions.

To the Senate:

I have been gratified to learn that, pursuant to a Resolution of the Senate, a Committee has been appointed to investigate the problems incident to the private manufacture of arms and munitions of war and the international traffic therein. I earnestly recommend that this Committee receive the generous support of the Senate in order that it may be enabled to pursue the investigation with which it is charged with a degree of thoroughness commensurate with the high importance of the questions at issue. The Executive Departments of the Government will be charged to cooperate with the Committee to the fullest extent in furnishing it with any information in their possession which it may desire to receive, and their views upon the adequacy or inadequacy of existing legislation and of the treaties to which the United States is a party for the regulation and control of the manufacture of and traffic in arms.

The private and uncontrolled manufacture of arms and munitions and the traffic therein has become a serious source of international discord and strife. It is not possible, however, effectively to control such an evil by the isolated action of any one country. The enlightened opinion of the world has long realized that this is a field in which international action is necessary. The negotiation of the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, signed at Geneva, June 17, 1925, was an important step in the right direction. That Convention is still before the Senate. I hope that the Senate may find it possible to give its advice and consent to its ratification. The ratification of that Convention by this Government, which has been too long delayed, would be a concrete indication of the willingness of the American people to make their contribution toward the suppression of abuses which may have disastrous results for the entire world if they are permitted to continue unchecked.

It is my earnest hope that the representatives of the Nations who will reassemble at Geneva on May 29 will be able to agree upon a Convention containing provisions for the supervision and control of the traffic in arms much more far-reaching than those which were embodied in the Convention of 1925. Some suitable international organization must and will take such action. The peoples of many countries are being taxed to the point of poverty and starvation in order to enable Governments to engage in a mad race in armament which, if permitted to continue, may well result in war. This grave menace to the peace of the world is due in no small measure to the uncontrolled activities of the manufacturers and merchants of engines of destruction, and it must be met by the concerted action of the peoples of all Nations.