861.77/1767a
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Geddes)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note of August 7th, 1920,64 relative to the informal meeting held at the Department of State on July 26th on the subject of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and requesting information concerning certain points connected with the above mentioned subject.
An admirable summary of the matters discussed and the suggestions made during the informal meeting referred to in Your Excellency’s note was prepared after the meeting by Sir Beilby Alston, who very courteously furnished me with a copy.65 I presume that the original or a copy was left with your Embassy, but should you fail to find it, the copy left with me is, of course, at your disposal. As I recall it, the summary states accurately the points covered in our informal discussion, and was to be supplemented in detail by a report which I understood Sir Beilby Alston hoped to make personally to his Government. I might add that I recall no new proposals in regard to the provision of funds for financing the railway by Your Excellency’s Government. It was pointed out, however, that under the Inter-Allied Agreement, the Government of the United States had already advanced approximately $3,400,000. [Page 708] and since the informal meeting of July 26th, it has authorized an additional payment of $200,000. for the expense of shipment of materials previously purchased, and $500,000. deemed essential for-the continued operation of the railway. Of the other Governments interested, I am informed that up to July 21, 1920, Japan has advanced $2,750,000.; China, $500,000.; while I understand that Great Britain and France have, as yet, made no advance under the Agreement, although they have both cooperated earnestly in the Inter-Allied and Technical Committees. Mr. John F. Stevens, who is still acting as Chairman of the Technical Committee, acting under the Inter-Allied Agreement, reports that the further amount required adequately to equip the railroad and efficiently to operate it, would not in his judgment exceed $10,000,000.
Accept [etc.]