File No. 763.72119/987
The Secretary of State to the General Secretary, International Committee, of the Young Men’s Christian Associations ( John R. Mott)
Dear Mr. Mott: I enclose herewith paraphrase of a telegram for you from Mr. Jerome Davis, which the Ambassador at Petrograd has transmitted without comment.3
I am somewhat concerned to observe the tone of Mr. Davis’s recommendations, which are so obviously at variance with the announced policy of this Government. The handling of diplomatic questions of this sort should, of course, be left entirely in the hands of the Ambassador at Petrograd, and other Americans in Russia should concern themselves strictly to the special work upon which they are engaged. Both the Ambassador and the Department are always glad to have the benefit of the opinions of our people in Russia, but I feel strongly, particularly in the present critical juncture, that any attempt by unauthorized persons to deal with diplomatic questions is fraught with grave danger.
[Page 290]As we are all striving to attain the same end, I am confident that you will agree with me and feel that I owe it to you to let you have this frank expression of my views in the belief that you will wish to counsel your people in Russia to confine themselves to the work which has taken them to that country and to lend their earnest cooperation to the Ambassador in the duties that devolve upon him.
I am [etc.]