393.11/1040: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Perkins) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 12—10:30 a.m.]
1119. My 1110, December 9, 11 a.m. Following from American Consul General at Shanghai: [Page 496]
“December 9, 4 p.m. Some eighty refugees, chiefly Americans, being women and children, arrived [from] Nanking by the Socony and [the] Butterfield [and] Swire boats today. Several inquiries have been received from local missions as to whether I am advising Americans to proceed to Shanghai from Soochow, Wusih and other interior ports. I am advising that the conditions throughout China are unsettled and that, while I know of no concrete instance that would justify advising the withdrawal from Soochow and Wusih to Shanghai, I should dislike to accept the responsibility of being the authority for retaining at these places of women and children.”