Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1935, The Far East, Volume III

793.94/6860

The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (Pittman)

Washington, January 31, 1935.

My Dear Senator Pittman: In response to an oral request made to Mr. Carr on January 24, 1935, by Mr. Walter C. Lamb, Assistant Clerk of the Committee, I will express briefly my views with regard to Senate Resolutions 32 and 33, both presented by Senator King on January 3, 1935.³⁷

I. Senate Resolution 32 would authorize examination by the Committee on Foreign Relations or a sub-committee thereof “into the policy pursued by Japan in Manchuria with a view to determining whether such policy has violated any of the provisions of the Kellogg Peace Pact³⁸ or the Nine Power Treaty.”

On January 27, 1932, President Hoover transmitted to the Senate a report by Secretary Stimson on conditions in Manchuria, which report, published as Senate Document No. 55 of the Seventy-Second Congress, contains texts of communications passed between the American Government and the Chinese and Japanese Governments, together with other related documents, in regard to the controversy between China and Japan in Manchuria since September 18, 1931, communications passed between the United States and the League of Nations in regard to the same matter, and various relevant documents and communiqués issued by the League. The League of Nations has made available to the public reports of the proceedings and findings in regard to the controversy between China and Japan of the various bodies that are either a part of the League or that were set up by it in relation to this matter. It is believed that there is readily available in these and other published documents and papers sufficient material of fact and of opinion to render supererogatory an investigation such as is envisaged in this resolution.

With special reference to the question arising out of the establishment by the authorities in Manchuria of an oil monopoly,³⁹ it may be stated that the American Government, along with the British and Netherland Governments, has made representations to the Japanese Government, in which it has been emphasized that the establishment of any monopoly would contravene the provisions of treaties and violate other undertakings of the Japanese Government to preserve the principle of the open door. An investigation of this question while it is under discussion between the American Government and the Government of Japan would not, it is believed, tend to promote a satisfactory adjustment of the matter.

II. The question raised in Senate Resolution 33, whether Japan has fulfilled its obligations to refrain from fortifying the Japanese Mandated Islands, is being examined by the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. In view of the fact that the United States has consented, as provided in Article I of the Treaty concluded on February 11, 1922, between the United States and Japan concerning the Island of Yap and other Japanese Mandated Islands,⁴⁰ to the administration, pursuant to the mandate issued to Japan, of the Islands by Japan, and in view of the fact that Japan is required under its mandate to report to the League of Nations in regard to the manner in which it is carrying out its mandate, it would seem that assumption by the United States at this time of responsibility for a separate and independent inquiry into the question whether the terms of the mandate are being fulfilled would be untimely and be likely to serve no useful purpose.

III. The two questions set forth in the draft resolutions under reference do not concern exclusively the United States and Japan; they are also of concern to all the nations that are members of the League of Nations and to all that have adhered to the Pact of Paris.

IV. Action such as is envisaged in these resolutions, if engaged in at this time, would in all probability cause and occasion a considerable amount of ill-advised public discussion in this and other countries of controversial questions in regard to which, in the view of this Department, a period of quiet consideration rather than of agitation and contention is desirable.

In view of the foregoing considerations I am of the opinion that an undertaking by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations or a sub-committee thereof of the investigations proposed in the draft resolutions under reference would not be in the public interest.

I assume that the Committee does not wish to make public this letter or any portion thereof. However, should the Committee desire to make this correspondence available to the public, I request that, prior to such action, I be given an opportunity to express my views in regard to such proposal.

Sincerely yours,

Cordell Hull

37. Congressional Record, vol. 79, pt. 1, p. 142.
38. Signed at Paris, August 27, 1928, Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. i, p. 153.
39. See pp. 877 ff.
40. Signed at Washington, Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. ii, p. 600.