File No. 5315/249.
Ambassador Hill to the Secretary of State.
Berlin, June 16, 1909.
Mr. Hill says that he has received a memorandum from the Foreign Office which is a reply to his of June 8 and 10, as follows:
The Imperial Government learns with satisfaction that American financiers intend to cooperate with those of Germany, England, and France in the construction of railways in China. It sees in this a fresh guaranty for the policy of the open door always pursued by the Imperial Government, and in the pursuance of which policy it has repeatedly concurred with the aims of American policy.
The Imperial Government has informed the financiers in question of the intentions of the American financiers. In what manner the various financial groups will arrange matters among themselves must, in the opinion of the Imperial Government, be left to these groups to decide, as was done in the German-English-French arrangement already made. Until now the Imperial Government was not aware that American financiers had any prior claims relating to the Hankow-Szechuen Railway.