793.94/2143
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle)
The Japanese Ambassador called when Mr. Forbes was in my office. After greeting Mr. Forbes he asked if he might pass on to me the messages which he had come to discuss, adding that he would like to have Mr. Forbes listen.
Mr. Debuchi said that he had already told the Secretary that the Japanese Government would welcome Mr. Salisbury and Mr. Hanson in Manchuria to make an investigation on the spot of what is going on. To this he added that the Japanese Government would be very glad to have them associate with themselves American military officers, if they so desired.
The Ambassador said that the Secretary had asked him about the wireless station in Mukden, which was reported to have been destroyed. He said that only the “dispatch line” was out of commission. He was not sure of the meaning of this, but it obviously means the instrument for transmitting messages. This can, according to his information, be restored at any moment and Baron Shidehara has promised to do his best to get the station into operation as quickly as possible. Mr. Debuchi said that probably the military had closed the station temporarily. He said that protests had been made by the American Consul in Mukden, on behalf of the Radio Corporation. As to general communications with Mukden the Ambassador said that press and official telegrams were given preference, although, of course, there might be some delay owing to congestion. He said that, although these telegrams went through Japanese authorities, there was obviously no censorship since many of the press messages were very critical of the Japanese.
The Ambassador brought up the question of aeroplane bombing of trains. He said that no bombs have ever been dropped on a train and that no attempt has been made to do such a thing. There appears, [Page 102] however, to have been a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops near the railway train running parallel to the trouble between the troops. Apparently a Japanese plane did turn its machine gun on the troops. No shots were fired at the train. (This seems to me an extraordinarily weak explanation.)
So far as the Separatist movement in Manchuria is concerned, the Ambassador denies that it is in any way stirred up by the Japanese. He says that, on the contrary, Baron Shidehara has instructed all consuls in the territory not in any way to interfere either for or against any kind of political movement.
The Ambassador said that the most significant news he has heard is that Japanese women and children are being withdrawn from Harbin and Kirin and places outside the railway zone held by Japanese troops. He says that the only possible explanation of this can be that the troops are very shortly to be withdrawn and that, in consequence, it is felt to be unwise to leave Japanese women and children where they may be subject to attack by bandits.