893.51/2255
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Reinsch )
Sir: The Department has received your Despatch No. 2692 of April 29, 1919, reporting the lending of $300,000 by the International Banking Corporation to the Chinese Minister of Education for the purpose of assisting the Ministry in paying the salaries of the Government [Page 512] schools and the University of Chihli Province. It is not clear from the statement contained in your despatch under acknowledgment as to what steps were taken toward compliance with the Government’s announced policy respecting loans to China as defined in Department’s telegraphic instruction to you of November 16, 1918, 6 p.m.”99
With particular reference to guarantees as to the use to which the funds derived from such loans are to be put, the Department desires to emphasize the need for extreme care in questions of this sort, in order to prevent unnecessary adverse criticism.
I am [etc.]