Office of the Historian

File No. 600.939/32

The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Reinsch)

[Telegram]
Washington, February 2, 1918, 3 p.m.

Your January 28, 5 p.m. The American Government can not assent to the prohibition of the export to Siberia of merchandise owned by Americans. You will so represent to the Foreign Office and say that in the opinion of the American Government any embargo on exports to Siberia, particularly at this time, is inadvisable. [Page 173] The attitude of this Government towards the Bolsheviki is set forth in the President’s recent address to Congress1 and in Department’s telegrams of January 16, 4 p.m.,2 and January 21, 7 p.m.3

Lansing
  1. The President’s address to Congress of Jan. 8 stated war aims and attitude toward Russia.↩
  2. Vol. ii, p. 28, footnote 2.↩
  3. Ibid., p. 31, footnote 1.↩