The Secretary of State to the Russian Ambassador.
Washington, January 20, 1911.
The information received by this Government from the American minister at Peking is to the effect that the Chinese authorities are active in efforts to prevent the spread of the plague to the south of the Great Wall; that second and third class travel on the trains south from Mukden has been prohibited; and that a quarantine station in Chargé of foreign physicians has been established at Shan-hai Kuan.
In view of these facts, the American Government believes that the Imperial Chinese Government will be disposed to adopt any proper measures for the control of the epidemic.
The gravity of the situation is appreciated by the American Government, which recognizes the great danger to life and the serious injury to the commerce of the world threatened by the condition of Manchuria, and this Government is happy, therefore, to find itself in accord with the Imperial Russian Government in its proposal, submitted through the Imperial Russian Embassy at Washington on January 19, 1911, to make such representations to China as may induce that Government to adopt the measures necessary to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
It is the opinion of this Government that the measures to be taken should be determined by plague experts, who should be employed for this purpose by the Chinese Government.
The American Government is disposed to support the proposal for an international commission to study the plague in Manchuria, and believes that the work of such a commission would be of great value to the world.