Office of the Historian

861.00/1246

The Counselor for the Department of State (Polk) to the Secretary of State 41

Washington, March 5, 1918 .

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I enclose two letters42 addressed to you which Crane brought to me and which I took the liberty of opening as I thought they might require immediate action. I must apologize for having taken the liberty, which possibly I should not have done, but the letter from Francis I thought might require immediate attention.

The British, French, Italian and Japanese called on me and discussed the letter you wrote them just before you left. They all seemed to be quite satisfied with the way that matter is being handled by the President.43

I sent for the British, French, and Italian and read them the telegram prepared on the subject of Siberia.44 They said they would communicate with their governments at once. The British and French I saw Friday and the Italian on Saturday. On Sunday the President sent for me to discuss the Siberian situation and was rather anxious that we should send the telegram to Japan on Monday. Monday morning he called me up and told me to wait until I heard from him again. Today he sent for me and gave me the enclosed message to be sent to Tokyo.45 He also asked me to communicate it to the British, French, and Italian. It is a change in our position, but I do not know that it will materially affect the situation. I argued the question with him a little, but he said he had been thinking it over and felt that the second message was absolutely necessary. On reading it you will probably see what influenced him, namely, the position of this Government in the eyes of the democratic people of the world. The message will be sent today and I shall make my rounds this afternoon.

I do not think the Japanese will be entirely pleased, but it is not a protest, so they may accept it as merely advice and go ahead and do what they want.

I hope you are having a good rest and not thinking about the office. I am sorry to even bother you with this, but I know you are naturally anxious to hear what is going on.

Please remember me to Mrs. Lansing.

With warmest regards [etc.]

Frank L. Polk
  1. Then in Augusta, Ga.↩
  2. Not enclosed with file copy of this letter.↩
  3. The matter referred to is uncertain.↩
  4. Supra. See also Foreign Relations, 1918, Russia, vol. ii, p. 68.↩
  5. Ibid., p. 67.↩