711.945/1043
The Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador (Hanihara)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of April 10, in which, referring to the recent Report of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives (Report No. 350, March 24, 1924), you took occasion to state your Government’s understanding of the purport of the so-called “Gentlemen’s Agreement”, and your Government’s practice and purposes with respect to emigration from Japan to this country.
I am happy to take note of your statement concerning the substance of the so-called “Gentlemen’s Agreement” resulting from the correspondence which took place between our two Governments in 1907–8, as modified by the additional undertaking of the Japanese Government with regard to the so-called “picture brides” which became effective four years ago. Your statement of the essential points constituting the Gentlemen’s Agreement corresponds with my own understanding of that arrangement.
Inasmuch as your note is directed towards clearing away any possible misapprehension as to the nature and purpose of the “Gentlemen’s Agreement”, I am taking occasion to communicate copies of it, as also of my present reply, to the Chairman of the appropriate Committees of the two Houses of Congress.
Accept [etc.]