393.115 Dollar Wharf and Warehouse Co./6

The American Ambassador in Japan ( Grew ) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Ugaki )

No. 943

Excellency: Acting under instructions from my Government, I have the honor to invite the attention of Your Excellency to the following information received through the American Consul General at Shanghai:

The Texas Company (China) Limited reports that its launch Texaco One while flying the American flag and under way in the Whangpoo in front of the Asiatic Petroleum Company’s lower wharf in Pootung was boarded at 12:30 a.m., May 19, by five Japanese (three of whom were armed) from a launch. Three of the Japanese were in naval uniforms. The Japanese drove all but one of the seventeen Chinese passengers and members of the crew to the stern of the launch and the Japanese beat them with a wooden truncheon. [Page 592] Four foreigners, none of whom are Americans, were aboard the launch. They pointed out the American flag to the Japanese. The foreigners were rudely treated but not beaten. Thirteen of the beaten Chinese are employees of the Texas Company.

The Japanese refused to permit the launch to proceed until 5:15 a.m., May 19. They searched it but did not take anything.

Two of the injured Chinese suffered fractured arms, three have serious contusions, the rest suffered bruises.

The Texaco One has been registered at the American Consulate General at Shanghai since April 15, 1931. It has been used continuously during recent months to carry passengers and supplies between the company’s Gough Island installation and Shanghai. The Texas Company states that all the Chinese on the launch were known to the company and that none of them could be accused of being guerrillas.

Your Excellency’s attention is also invited to the following further report received through the American Consul General at Shanghai:

The Dollar Wharf and Warehouse Company, an American firm reports that its steam launch Dahlay (which is registered at the American Consulate General at Shanghai) while flying the American flag and proceeding up the Whangpoo with two lighters in tow was stopped at 2:45 a.m., May 20, by a “Japanese naval launch”. Four Japanese in naval uniforms boarded the launch. The Dahlay at the time was hired out to Parsons & Company, a British firm, engaged in the transportation of cargo and passengers and towing between Shanghai and small ports on the Yangtze near Shanghai such as Shupu. The crew consisted only of Chinese employees of the Dollar Wharf and Warehouse Company. Two Chinese representatives of the owners of the cargo which consisted of rice were also aboard. These two Chinese were asked for passes and not answering quickly enough were beaten with sticks about their heads and bodies by the Japanese. The number one laodah held out his pass to a Japanese who immediately hit him with a stick. The Japanese also beat the number two laodah and a sailor with a stick. The Japanese ordered the laodah to cut the lighters adrift and to proceed to the Pootung side of the river where the launch was tied up at the Kailan Mining Administration’s coal dock. About 3:15 a.m. a foreign river policeman arrived on the scene. He took the number two laodah to a hospital to have his wounds dressed. After daylight the Dahlay picked up the lighters it had been towing and proceeded to the Shanghai bund without further incident.

I am instructed to point out to Your Excellency that my Government is inclined to take strong exception to these evidences of disregard by the Japanese authorities at Shanghai of the rights and immunities of American vessels, and that my Government expects that Your Excellency will without delay cause instructions to be issued to the Japanese authorities at Shanghai which will serve to prevent further interference with the movements of American vessels.

I desire to add that, although the personnel aboard the two vessels under reference was not American, knowledge of the physical abuse [Page 593] to which the personnel aboard was subjected by Japanese who unlawfully boarded the vessels creates in the mind of the American public an unfavorable impression of the gravity of the offense involved.

I avail myself [etc.]

Joseph C. Grew