File No. 793.94/371.
Chargé Wheeler to the Secretary of State.
Tokyo, May 24, 1915—11 p.m.
Today’s newspapers here print telegrams from Peking stating that the Government of the United States has presented to China and Japan a note of warning in the sense that the United States cannot recognize any agreements in the treaty about to be concluded which conflict with the principles of the open door and equal opportunity or with China’s sovereign rights or territorial integrity. Editorial comment, excepting in papers disposed not to credit the report, resentful, alleging that adequate explanations had been given that should make such representations at this late date uncalled for. It is expected that the opposition, which has begun a bitter attack on the Government in the Diet, will make the matter a subject of discussion.