Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, The Far East, Volume IV

611b.9417/267

Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Ballantine)

[ Washington ,] November 2, 1937.

The attached statement appearing on a Japanese Embassy letterhead¹⁴ was handed to Mr. Ballantine by Mr. Suma of the Japanese Embassy and relates to new measures to make more effective the control of transshipment of Japanese cotton piece goods to the Philippines by way of Hong Kong. Mr. Suma referred to the conversation¹⁵ which Mr. Ballantine had on October 22 with Mr. Sakamoto, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, in regard to measures of control previously put into effect, and asked whether there had been any decrease in transshipments. Mr. Ballantine said that the October figures had come in, which showed no decrease over those of the previous month, but he assumed that as the measures referred to by Mr. Sakamoto did not go into effect until October 26, the effect would not be apparent until we receive the November figures.¹⁶

14. Not printed.
15. Memorandum of conversation not printed.
16. The Japanese Consul General at Manila, Uchiyama, also discussed this problem in a letter of November 5 to the U. S. High Commissioner, McNutt (not printed).