811.30 Asiatic Fleet/526: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 23—4:20 p.m.]
1156. 1. I read to the United Press representative, Mr. Bellaire, today paragraphs 1 and 2 of your 499, August 22, 2 p.m. I brought forcibly to Bellaire’s attention the harm that such news despatches do and I asked him specifically for source of his statement that “diplomatic quarters predicted freely that before long there might be a most extraordinary showdown of the Chinese war between the Japanese and American Governments”. Mr. Bellaire said that the source of this information was the British Embassy. I will endeavor to check further on this phase of the matter.
2. Bellaire was extremely apologetic and assured me that there would be no recurrence of matters of this kind which might embarass the Department or the Consulate General. He stated emphatically that none of the information came from any members of this Consulate General or from American naval personnel in Shanghai and he also stated, and submitted satisfactory evidence to support the statement, that his despatch was largely rewritten in the New York office of the Associated [United] Press and that many of the quotations in the first half of the telegram under reference were not included in his telegraphic report from Shanghai. Except for the reference to “diplomatic quarters” it seems evident to me, on the strength of my investigation, that the press despatch of August 22 from Shanghai was principally a rewrite in New York.
3. Bellaire informed me that his first intimation of the story regarding the Monocacy reached him from his New York office. Victor [Page 177] Keen of the Herald Tribune at Hankow had reported that the Japanese had refused Admiral Yarnell’s request in connection with the movement of the Monocacy.
4. This Consulate General does in fact endeavor to maintain effective cooperation with press correspondents but it is difficult, as I know the Department realizes, to prevent situations such as that described in your [the] telegram under reference from you.