693.003/454: Telegram
The Minister in China (Reinsch) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 24, 12.44 p.m.]
The Allied Ministers have decided to recommend to their Governments that the period 1911 to 1913 be taken as a basis of valuation for customs duties without such general surcharge as will insure an effective 5 per cent, also that a new revision be made two years after the war. Your instructions to the delegation are requested.
The Japanese representative had informed the Ministers that his Government insisted on the period 1911 to 1913, that it was practically an immediate temporary surtax and to determine decisions by a majority vote. This attitude did not make a favorable impression.