The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

ANOTHER TALK WITH AMBASSADOR NAON 215

Colonel House to the President
NEW YORK, December 26, 1914
DEAR GOVERNOR:
I am enclosing you a copy of a letter from da Gama which
I have just received and which I know will please you as
much as it has me.
As you know, I had a telephone talk with Naon; but he
spoke such broken English and the connection was so bad,
that I could not gather the sense of his message. He promised to write, but I have nothing from him yet. I gleaned
enough to know that he wanted to have another conference;
therefore I told him I would be in Washington early next
week.
This is a matter of such far-reaching consequence that I
feel we should pay more attention to it just now than even
the European affair, for the reason that, if brought to a
successful conclusion, the one must have a decided influence
upon the other....
Affectionately yours
E. M. HOUSE
Three days later House went again to Washington, where
he had a gratifying conference with the Argentine Ambassador. Naon handed to him the following despatch, which
had just come in from Buenos Ayres: 'The Government
receives with sympathy the proposition with the understanding that such a proposition tends to transform the onesided character of the Monroe Doctrine into a common
policy of all the American countries.'
'December 29, 1914: Naon was very enthusiastic [House
recorded] over the entire proposal and said, "... It will be
such a great accomplishment that there will be nothing he
[Wilson] can ever do afterward that can approach it in
importance."