693.002/450: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 14—4:45 p.m.]
78. Minister of Finance37 has telegraphed Inspector General of Customs expressing appreciation of efforts of the commissioners concerned in maintaining the status quo of the Tientsin and Chinwangtao customs but stating that, (1), no orders should be accepted from and no agreement of any kind should be negotiated and concluded with [Page 631] the bogus government; (2), no changes should be made in the present customs system rules and regulations; (3), present tariffs should not be revised without authority, these three conditions being the minimum that should be held in maintaining the Customs Administration and under no circumstances be compromised. Commissioners of Customs to be instructed accordingly.
2. Inspector General has replied that the commissioners are being instructed, that no written agreement whatever has been made with the bogus government, that in order to maintain sovereign rights and credit at home and abroad by preserving the integrity of the service as the Government’s agents throughout China, et cetera, it may become advisable at some ports to yield to force majeure in nonessentials, and that to stimulate trade and help revive economic conditions seriously upset by hostilities, the Inspector General may later submit some tariff proposals for approval of the Government.
Repeated to Hankow and Peiping.
- H. H. Kung.↩