893.01 Manchuria/147: Telegram
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received April 22—2:40 a.m.]
458. Following from American Consul General at Harbin:
“April 21, 1 p.m.
1. An American who has just returned from an extended trip along the border near Pogranichnaya has stated that General Wang Te-lin’s troops numbering 5,000 well-equipped and behaved soldiers are advancing along the eastern line of the Chinese Eastern Railway, that conditions in the interior some distance away from the east line are horrible, and that all classes of Chinese there blame the Japanese indirectly for the unprecedented outrages to which they have been subjected.
2. His report on the conditions is confirmed by reports received by [Page 712] Consuls, nationals of whom have suffered terribly physically and materially.
3. Vice Consul Takigawa stated at a consular body meeting yesterday that Japanese military had not yet decided about sending their troops east but that the newly arrived General Hirose was desirous of protecting not only Japanese but other foreign lives and property on eastern line and that he, Takigawa, was arranging program for League Commission’s visit to Harbin.
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