893.51/2524
Memorandum of the Third Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
Mr. Debuchi asked me this morning if he understood correctly the question of the two railroads mentioned in our recent note on the subject of Japanese reservations to the Consortium. He asked me whether they were considered as parts on which substantial progress had been made. I told him that railroads which were built were not in the Consortium; that extensions to those railroads on which substantial progress had been made were, under the terms of the Consortium, not included; and that railroads in continuation of those built, or upon which substantial progress had been made and which had been already contracted for and projected were to be considered as without the scope of the Consortium under the theory that they were parts of a whole, and that substantial progress had been made upon the whole.