File No. 763.72111/2784
The Acting Secretary of the Navy (
Roosevelt
) to the
Secretary of State
Washington
,
August 27, 1915.
Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith, for
your information, copies of telegrams sent and received by this
department relative to the censorship of cable messages at the naval
station, Guam.
Sincerely yours,
[Enclosure 1—Telegram—Paraphrase]
The Acting Secretary of the Navy (
Roosevelt
) to the Commandant
of the Naval Station at Guam (
Maxwell
)
Washington
,
August 25, 1915.
The cable company informs the department as follows:
A protest has been received by the company from the Japanese
Government against stoppage of a message which was written in plain
Japanese language.
You will forward immediately by cable to the department a translation
of the message referred to. 17025.
[Enclosure 2—Telegram—Paraphrase]
The Commandant of the Naval Station at Guam
(
Maxwell
) to the Secretary of the
Navy (
Daniels
)
Referring to your cable 17025, I have stopped only one Japanese
message which was believed to be in code and was received on August
24. It was unsigned [Page 889] and
addressed to Haniu who would not translate it. I do not know the
contents of the message as I have no competent translators of
Japanese. In order to carry out the fifth paragraph of the
instructions to officers regarding radio communication and referring
to your cable 10007, I have required all messages which are
addressed to citizens of belligerent nations to be signed and in
plain English, but the cable company refuses to forward these rules
to other stations. Referring to your cable November 16, 1914, the
Japanese Government has already accepted the rules concerning plain
English.
