493.11 Shanghai/73
The Consul General at Shanghai ( Cunningham ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 25.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to Despatch No. 9424 dated April 13, 1934 from this Consulate General54 (file 800/350 CV: Chc55) outlining in detail the offer made by the local Japanese authorities to settle certain of the American claims resulting from the Shanghai Incident of 1932.
Pertinent figures covering claims against the Japanese Government presented for local settlement were as follows:
| 38 Claims grand total | US$332,152.54 |
| 19 Claims disallowed for local settlement | US$230,266.08 |
| 19 Claims recognized for local settlement | US$101,886.46 |
| Amount offered by Japanese for local settlement Yen 61,200 at US$0.30 | US$18,360.00 |
| Ratio of Amount offered to total amount of recognized claims | 18.2% |
A proviso to the granting of solatium insisted upon by the Japanese was that the recipients thereof would relinquish their total claim. The Department has anticipated and provided for the acceptance of such a condition in its cable No. 67 of March 27, 6 P.M.
Before accepting the Japanese offer for a local settlement this Consulate General endeavored, especially so because the Americans [Page 228] were being offered priority of settlement, to obtain figures showing the total amount appropriated by the Japanese Government for such settlement and if possible the amount allotted to each nation. Figures covering the total amount of claims filed had already been obtained from the British, Shanghai $980,000 and the French, Shanghai $780,000. It was the intention, if possible, to make a comparison between the appropriation or appropriations and the totals alloted for different nations to ascertain whether the American nationals were being offered a ratio at least equal to that of the others. The Japanese procedure of refusing to recognize most of the claims for losses occurring in Chinese territory made the claim totals by nations valueless. Further investigation was halted when it was learned that the Japanese appropriation was also to take care of claims filed by Japanese subjects residing in Shanghai and Manchuria. The total figures for claims presented by the latter subjects could not be obtained.
Under date of May 19, 1934 (See copy attached56) the Japanese Consul General was notified of the acceptance by 16 of the claimants of his offer of solatium. A copy of his reply dated June 11 is also attached.56 Of the 19 possible recipients the Standard Vacuum Oil Company, St. Luke’s Hospital and John Van Aimer were not included in the list dated May 19 as their acceptance of the offer had not been received. St. Luke’s were hesitating in accepting because the solatium offered was a small percentage of its reported losses. However, before the receipt of 18 checks were acknowledged by this office June 19, 1934 (Vide enclosure56) the Standard Vacuum Oil Company (Socony-Vacuum Corporation) and St. Luke’s Hospital stated their willingness to accept. The amount of settlement in the case of the latter having been increased, through the efforts of this office, from Yen 500 to Yen 1700.…
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Respectfully yours,