Answers to The President's Appeal to the Nations.

President Roosevelt received the following acknowledgments to the message which he sent to the Sovereigns and Presidents of the Nations participating in the World Economic and Disarmament Conferences:

From King George

"I thank you for your important message which I have communicated to my Governments in order that it may receive their fullest consideration."

From Wilhelm Miklas, Federal President of Austria "Gratefully acknowledge receipt of your most important proposals aiming at efficacious establishment of world peace. I transmitted the proposals of the Austrian Government for close and earnest consideration, result of which will be urgently submitted to Your Excellency."

From Gustaf, R., of Sweden "I thank you for your telegraphic message of which I have taken part with genuine sympathy. I sincerely participate in your hopes that at this moment all Nations join in concerted action for political and economic peace and I feel confident that the contribution of the United States to the success of these efforts will be of the utmost value with a view to attain a goal of such vital necessity to humanity."

From Christian, R., of Denmark "I wish to convey to you my sincerest thanks for the message you have sent to me and to other heads of States. I fully join in your wishes that the two Conferences may result in measures to secure peace between the Nations and the development of international commerce. The Danish Government entirely shares the hopes expressed in your message."

From Albert Kviesis, of Latvia "Received with greatest interest your message and beg to inform you that Latvia readily will join in realization of proposed lofty aims."

From Haakon, R., of Norway "I have conferred with my Prime Minister on your telegram and can tell you, Mr. President, that my Government quite agree with your appeal which it gives the great pleasure to inform you of."

From Queen Wilhelmina, of The Netherlands "It is, Mr. President, a matter of deep satisfaction to me that the reply from The Netherlands to your telegraphic appeal can be given at once and without reserve. "This Nation for which I speak abhors war. It would, of course, resist assault, but it abhors war. As it condemns provocation and aggression between citizens, so it condemns provocation and aggression between Nations. It thinks that the times have come for the community of Nations to show by acts that it is determined to rid itself of the law of the strongest as its potential supreme standard. Peaceful adjustment is the exclusive method for settling national controversies. . . . Substantial disarmament is now imperatively necessary, for continued armaments lead to competition . . . to inevitable war. "The Netherlands are ready to take with the other Nations of the world the four steps you propose. . . .They do not make any reservation. "The forthcoming Economic Conference can be assured of the active and wholehearted support of my Government. . . . This country stands for sanity and order in its economic and financial life. Internationally, it stands for unrestricted commerce, stable currencies and better prices. . . .With my Government and people I fully join in the fulfillment of the hopes you have expressed."

From President Machado, of Cuba "The Government and people of Cuba receive with real satisfaction the message for the promotion of peace and well-being for all peoples which Your Excellency sends them. The historical moment in which we live demands the measures wisely indicated by Your Excellency and Cuba offers . . . her unconditional adherence and decided cooperation. . . .I congratulate Your Excellency on the noble and lofty initiative which you have taken . . . and hope that the whole world will respond to your noble call for action with a decisiveness springing from the principles of good and from the instinct of self-preservation."

From President Lebrun, of France "I have duly received the message which you have been good enough to send me in your capacity as head of the Government of the United States. I thank you for your communication. I hasten to render homage to the lofty sentiments which have dictated it in your fervent love of peace and your sincere desire for the economic recovery of the peoples. The Government of the French Republic will study the communication in a similar spirit and a community of aspiration."

From President Rodriguez, of Mexico "I have read with profound interest the eloquent international message that you have kindly addressed to me. . . .The very noble purposes of your message . . . are shared by the Government over which I preside and by the people of my country. It is evident that the world can wait no longer for the adoption of international measures in economic matters, the study of which has really already been exhausted. . . . "With regard to the other grave menace, that resulting from excessive armaments, I absolutely share your generous point of view; and the four specific points of action which you indicate as immediate and secondary objectives of the Disarmament Conference will be supported by Mexico's delegation in Geneva. "Mexico, which is not and has never been an aggressor Nation, believes that it gives thus, in addition to the action which it proposes to develop at Geneva and at London, new proof that it is absolutely at one with you and with the sentiment of the great people of the United States for the realization of the hopes for international peace and prosperity."

From President Arias, of Panama "The Republic of Panama brings all her good-will to Your Excellency's humanitarian initiative and trusts that the prestige of the great American democracy . . . will greatly contribute to the success of the Conferences . . . at Geneva and London."

From President Schulthess, of Switzerland "I am hastening to thank you cordially for the important telegraphic message which you were kind enough to send me . . . .The Federal Council, which has examined this message with the deepest interest, expresses the feeling of the Swiss people by welcoming the new effort which you are making with a view to preventing the Disarmament Conference from meeting with failure which might jeopardize the peace of the world and which would leave little hope for a favorable result from the London Economic Conference."

From President Von Hindenburg, of Germany "I acknowledge with sincere thanks receipt of your message telegraphed to me. This declaration, in which you show the world the way to eliminate the international crisis, has met with hearty approval throughout Germany. The statements which the German Reich Chancellor made yesterday, with the unanimous agreement of the German Reichstag, prove that Germany is decided to cooperate unselfishly in overcoming the political and economic difficulties of the present moment."

From President Niceto Alcala Zamora, of Spain "I have received your telegram of May 16, in which you set forth the point of view of the Government of the United States concerning the World Economic Conference and the Disarmament Conference. The Spanish Government is basing its whole international policy on Article 6 of the Constitution of the Republic, in accordance with which Spain renounces war as an instrument of national policy. Spain is therefore disposed to join at all times in all measures directed toward bringing about the triumph of a solid and enduring peace policy over all obstacles. In accordance with these principles, Spain has had the honor to be the inspirer of some of the proposals which today serve as a basis for the discussions of the Disarmament Conference for the limitation of offensive arms as well as for effective and general disarmament. . . .Therefore, in the instructions that will be given to the Spanish representatives at the London Economic Conference and the Geneva Disarmament Conference, the lofty words of Your Excellency, whose suggestions will be previously studied with the greatest interest, will be carefully borne in mind."

From President Juan B. Sacasa, of Nicaragua "I congratulate Your Excellency enthusiastically on your initiative and on your clear-sighted study of the world situation, and I am pleased to inform Your Excellency, in the name of my Government, that the greatest aspiration of the people of Nicaragua is to see the success of your noble efforts looking to the stability of world peace and to the general welfare of all the Nations. I renew to you the assurance of my great esteem and of my highest consideration."

From President J. v. Gomez, of Venezuela "I assure Your Excellency at once of the entire cooperation 'of my Government in the path of contributing to the effectiveness of the ideal of peace and economic cooperation which Your Excellency proposes for yourself. I consider that the idea of disarmament is the best possible for achieving the peace of the world. When universal disarmament has been obtained, the rest must come easily, because when the peoples are deprived of the implements of war, they tend to harmony and to fraternity without mutual distrust and fear, confidence being established among all. . . . "Venezuela will go to the conferences, both those already convoked and those which may be convoked for the purpose of considering the proposals of transcendent importance which Your Excellency's Government is making to the world, with the most decided will and the most sincere purpose of bringing her cooperation to the task of the possible realization of the hopes, which, with good reason, are based on Your Excellency's most lofty initiative."

From King Vittorio Emanuele, of Italy "I have received your noble message which meets with full response in my spirit and in that of my Government. I thank you for it and I draw from it the happiest omens for the progress of the cause of peace and of world reconstruction."

From President Alessandri, of Chile "The people of Chile and their Government have received with fervent enthusiasm the historic appeal which Your Excellency has been courteous enough to address to me, to seek among the various Nations of the world a formula intended to improve the economic interdependence of the Nations and prevent war. . . . "In my opinion, unemployment is due in large part to the economic customs warfare in which the world is engaged. The Nations are combating each other in an exaggerated nationalism that produces, as an unavoidable result, all sorts of disturbances in their commercial interchange. Armament, which snatches great amounts of capital from industry and takes from it human energy to an enormous extent, also constitutes another of the factors producing unemployment. . . . "I am convinced that a new war might not be withstood by mankind, and there would certainly have to emerge from its ruins a new social organization opposed to that which we are defending today and to the order derived from it. It would undoubtedly be the final disaster to the present civilization, and give rise to another historical cycle the scope and final results of which it is impossible to estimate. . . . "I express the fervent wish that Your Excellency's lofty initiative may have results that will contribute to bringing benefits to humanity in the nearest future, and I cherish the expectation that my Government may contribute in every way in its power to the success of the result so greatly desired."

From President Jimenez, of Costa Rica "Costa Rica, through me, sincerely applauds Your Excellency's patriotic, humanitarian and greatly important initiative and expresses most fervent good wishes for the happy outcome of the steps taken by Your Excellency, which steps will surely be well received by the Powers in whose hands lies the peace of the world."

From President Gabriel Terra, of Uruguay "Henceforth every aggressor Nation will know that the moral and material forces of civilization will not go with it in its odious attitude. I cordially congratulate you on your inspired gesture, a gesture which, in my judgment, will be a definitive step toward peace and toward the restoration of prosperity, and the happiness of the human race."

President Roosevelt received on May 19, 1933, the following acknowledgment from President Michail Kalinin, All Union Central Executive Committee, Moscow, Russia:

"I have received your message of political and economic peace to all States and I feel sure that it will meet with warm response from the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Government, pressing the will of the peoples of the Soviet Union, has never ceased, at all international conferences in which it has, for over ten years, taken part, to draw attention to the necessity for universal disarmament as an indispensable premise for peace between Nations. The Soviet Government itself proposed and supported at Geneva definite projects for universal disarmament, especially those which provided for the utmost reduction of armaments, at the same time exposing unworthy attempts to discredit the idea of disarmament by exploiting it in the interests of the national policy of some States against others. The Soviet Government also proposed and supported measures aiming at preventing or at least impeding any kind of aggression or any attempt on the part of any State to enlarge its territory at the expense of others. The Soviet Government has concluded non-aggression pacts with most of the countries with which it is in official relations and can therefore only welcome your proposal for the conclusion of a pact of non-aggression by all countries. The same may be said of the Soviet Government's policy with regard to economic peace. It is common knowledge that, bearing in mind the economic interdependence of countries in all continents, we proposed at Geneva a pact for economic non-aggression. Aggression whether military or economic, on the part of one country against another, affects the interests not only of the two countries concerned, but also of all other countries, by adding to the existing economic chaos. The Soviet Government intends to continue in its efforts in the spirit of this policy. It will willingly cooperate with Governments interested in the realization of such a policy, whether at the Geneva Disarmament Conference or at the London Economic Conference."