Office of the Historian

393.1115/939: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)

Washington, September 18, 1937—6 p.m.

216. Your 377, September 16, 5 p.m., 384, September 18, noon, and 386, September 18, 1 p.m.40 Please at once again point out to the Japanese Foreign Office that American citizens are withdrawing from Hankow by train via Canton on September 24, as well as on September 20 and 22; that it is obviously impossible for those Americans withdrawing on the train leaving Hankow on the 24th to reach their destination by “midnight on the 24th”; and that this Government emphatically urges that the Japanese Government direct the responsible Japanese military authorities to exercise every precaution to the end that the lives of Americans withdrawing from Hankow via Canton by train shall not be endangered by Japanese military action. You may in your discretion also point out that this Government perceives no military necessity for attacks on southbound trains from Hankow to Canton which are providing means for foreigners and other noncombatants to withdraw from China.

Hull
  1. Telegrams Nos. 384 and 386 not printed.↩