File No. 861.77/374
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Reinsch )
For Stevens:
Your two telegrams April 29, 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sending engineers to Russia has sole purpose to ascertain how we can assist further in measures against Germany. Military attaché at Vologda reports:
Three thousand railroad men here have struck because several train loads of food have been shipped from Siberia to Finland when the [Page 232] people in northern Russia were unable to get bread. These trains were allowed to proceed. Had American railroad men been on duty this would have been prevented.
This government does not wish to refuse considering possibility of definite measures against Germany and on that account it is essential to ascertain whether any of the men under your orders can be used in different parts of Russia. Explain this clearly to new administration of Chinese Eastern Railway at earliest possible opportunity. From your telegram quick action would seem to be necessary. This Government does not recognize Bolshevik authorities and has no official relations with them. Keep Department advised. Why could not men at Nagasaki be organized for service as separate contingent in European Russia?