Office of the Historian

File No. 763.72/1220

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Guthrie)

Department of State,
Washington, November 16, 1914.

[Telegram]

Your telegram of November 14, 10 a.m.

Schmidt and Bruecher appear to be officers of the Shantung Railway. Maltzan is the name of the German Chargé d’Affaires at Peking. These are possibly the signers of the petition. Since you are charged with the care of German interests you may transmit the request to the Foreign Office but make perfectly clear that you do so simply as an act of courtesy and that you have no knowledge of the facts.

Bryan