893.00/8487: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss)
Your telegram March 30, 8 p.m. Apparently the press report you quoted is based on the White House press conference March 29, during which in replying to questions the President stated that he had nothing to add to his statement the other day concerning the movement of American forces to China, at which time he had said he saw no necessity for increasing American forces in China. However, he wanted to say that he had hardly made that statement when a telegram was received from Admiral Williams requesting 1,500 additional marines, and these were of course being sent by the Navy Department. The President said he expected that these forces would suffice, that it might be possible that there might be no need for them, but that China was a long distance away in any case and to get a force assembled ready to send takes time. We have to anticipate what events might arise and we are depending upon the Admiral’s requests for more forces. The Admiral, up to the time when the first statement was made, had not thought the sending of any larger force than he had in China was necessary. For a considerable length of time three cruisers were held at Honolulu awaiting his call, and some days ago they were dispatched. The purpose of our forces there is to protect our people and their property. Our forces are not an expeditionary force. They are in the nature of a police force to give our people protection insofar as they can. They are not allowed to make war on anyone. There is no organized military attack on our people but sometimes disorganized attacks are made by soldiers who are not acting, we presume, under authority from anyone attempting to function as a government, but who rather are acting as a mob. The liability of something like that breaking out at any time is the reason we are increasing our forces. There will not be [Page 98] a change in the command of our forces in China. Our forces will of course be commanded by our own officers and it is not intended so far as I know to have any unified command. As is necessary, of course, we are cooperating there with other nations. I do not understand that the location of the foreign settlements is such that our people are altogether separated from the people of other nations. There is no separation of the French Settlement from the settlement of other nationals or the International Settlement, so that we all should act together in order to prevent a mob from forcing its way through at any time and to give protection to our own people. The above report is for your confidential and private information.
You will understand that the statement published in the China Weekly Review has no basis of truth and if you consider it wise to repudiate the statement you are authorized to do so.