File No. 793.94/284.
Minister Reinsch to the Secretary of State.
Peking, April 5, 1915, 8 p.m.
I beg to submit that to grant to any foreign-controlled company the right to be consulted concerning the working of mines in the neighborhood or other enterprises which might directly or indirectly affect the interests of said company, would be to abdicate the freedom [of] industrial development as well as to deny the treaty rights of other nationals. Even aside from its broader implications the proposal is tantamount to a demand for a monopoly of mineral production and manufacture in at least the upper portion of the Yangtze valley and it is so considered among residents in China of all nationalities. The indefiniteness of its scope constitutes the dangerousness of this demand and I would suggest the desirability of insisting in this connection upon the principle that only concessions for specific enterprises operating over a definitely delimited area commensurate with the scope of the undertaking are within the purview of treaties guaranteeing equal commercial and industrial opportunities.