893.00/3984
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy (Denby)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge, with thanks, your letter of July 27, 1921, enclosing a copy of a report dated June 7th from the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet, at Shanghai, China, with reference to the placing of armed guards on vessels operating on the Yangtze River.
In this connection, and with reference to previous letters on the same matter, I am transmitting for your information and such action as the situation requires, a copy of a despatch, No. 272 [273] of June 24, with enclosure, from the American Consulate General at Hankow,23 relative to conditions on the Upper Yangtze River. I have the honor to invite your attention to the suggestion made in the paragraph which begins at the bottom of page 5 of the enclosure to the despatch from the Consulate General, namely, that naval convoys be provided for the protection of American chartered junks through danger zones in the upper reaches of the Yangtze river, and to ask whether it would be possible for the Yangtze patrol to put such a suggestion into effect.
I have [etc.]
Assistant Secretary
- Not printed.↩