393.115/125: Telegram
The Third Secretary of Embassy in China ( Allison ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:11 p.m.]
27. Between noon of January 15 and noon today there have been reported to this Embassy 15 cases of irregular entry of American property by Japanese soldiers. In addition to property of American citizens and organizations which was removed during these irregular entries, 10 Chinese women refugees residing at the properties concerned were forcibly taken away. The most recent and most flagrant case took place this morning when Japanese soldiers with two trucks entered a compound belonging to the United Christian Mission and took away a piano and other property. In removing it they broke down a large section of the wall surrounding the compound. An [Page 568] American member of the mission states he saw the wall this morning and it was intact. I saw the wall personally at 1:45 p.m. after it had been torn down and can testify that it was within the previous three hours, for, while early this morning it rained, the fragments of the wall on the ground were perfectly dry. I have repeatedly called the attention of the Japanese Embassy to such matters which continue to be of daily occurrence but I am forced to the conclusion that the Japanese Embassy is powerless to stop these depredations and that the Japanese Army is either unwilling or unable to afford adequate protection to American property. There has been no appreciable change in the situation since January 15, upon which date, according to Tokyo’s January 15, 5 p.m., to Shanghai, the Japanese War Department instructed the military authorities in Nanking to refrain from the irregular entry of American property.
Repeated to Embassy, Hankow, and Shanghai. Shanghai please repeat to Tokyo.