File No. 763.72/1220
The Ambassador in Japan (Guthrie) to the Secretary of State
Tokyo, November 14, 1914, 10 a.m.
[Received 8 a.m.]
[Telegram]
I have received the following telegram:
On the request of the direction of the Shantung Railway, I have the honor to submit to your excellency the following petition, asking you to be so kind and bring it to the knowledge of the Foreign Office in Tokyo:
In view of the fall of Tsingtao, the Shantung Railway Company, a private limited company, without German Government’s participation in its capital, [Page 202] requests that the railway and mines seized by Japanese military expedition be now restored to the company so far as consistent with present military necessity so that traffic and mining may be resumed under control and for benefit of the company; and so that claim for damage by and during seizure and attention [sic] may be minimized, a detailed claim is being prepared and will be forwarded through your good services in due course. An earlier restoration will, of course, be without prejudice to such claim. Schmidt, Bruecher, Maltzan.
The signers are not known to me, but the British Ambassador has told me that he has heard from Peking that such a message had been sent me by the officers of the Shantung Railroad. The property claimed is in China, and I assume the claimants to be German subjects residing in China. The petition is made to me direct by the claimants and is not accompanied by any official recommendation.