File No. 893.51/1930
The Acting Secretary of State to the British Ambassador ( Reading)
Memorandum
The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador and has the honor to acknowledge receipt of his memorandum No. 804, of July 20, 1918, saying: [Page 181]
His Majesty’s Government were informed by telegraph of the correspondence which has passed between the Department of State and the American bankers, and have now enquired whether it is the intention of the United States Government that the financial activities of the new four-power group, which it is proposed to establish in the place of the original six-power group, should be limited to undertaking administrative loans to the Chinese Government, or whether it will also be permissible for the consortium to undertake loans for industrial and railway enterprises.
In reply I have the honor to state that in so far as concerns the American group now forming under the agreement between the Department of State and certain bankers, it is the expectation of the Department that industrial loans will be made as well as those for administrative purposes.
The Department hopes that His Britannic Majesty’s Government will find it desirable and possible to make a favorable response to the Department’s proposal for cooperation in this important matter.