861.00/4736: Telegram
The Minister in China (Reinsch) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received June 23, 1919, 6:53 p.m.]
Following from [Harris at] Omsk:
“278, June 21, 11 a.m. Consul Thomson, Irkutsk, gives the following reason for Czech disturbances that city: five years’ absence from home including experiences in prison camps; lack of communication with home Government and folks during that period; demoralizing effect of environment in Russia necessitating their organizing and fighting in the midst of anarchy disorder and Bolshevism; disappointment at failure of Allies to take declarative attitude in Russian affairs; the attainment of Czecho-Slovakian freedom has deprived them of great cause which induced them to fight last year in Russia; soldiers feel that they are needed at home to protect new state.
I respectfully point out to the Department that if Czech soldiers are not sent home before cold weather there is almost a certainty that very serious trouble will arise. It appears to me that Allies must very seriously consider question of replacing Czech soldiers by their own troops if the railway is to be properly guarded in the future. I consider it an impossibility that the Russians themselves will be able to spare sufficient soldiers from the front in order to effectively protect railway in its operation. Harris.”