793.94/12649: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:20 p.m.]
390. From Atcheson:84
“1. General conditions in Nanking have improved considerably in [recent] weeks. Chinese from refugee zone have been returning to their homes and spreading through the city. Small Chinese and Japanese shops have been opening. Missionaries report that number of known cases of rape and of assault by soldiers upon civilian population has been reduced to 2 or 3 daily of each category. About 200 unarmed Chinese police are on duty throughout the city and postal service is scheduled to resume March 24.
2. Nanking is apparently being used both for garrison purposes and as a rest camp, and with present garrison personnel the problem of maintaining order centers chiefly in new troops coming from the field. Recently this difficulty appears to have been dealt with in comparatively satisfactory manner.
3. The new Japanese Consul General seems also well disposed, Japanese officials I met were friendly and it was obvious that there exists a cordial and friendly relationship between them and Allison and Espy. (Both their duties and the conditions under which they live have imposed considerable strain upon Embassy staff. There is yet no telephone service, electric light service is not continuous and water service is only occasional.)
[Page 292]4. While life in Nanking is far from normal, general improvement in conditions inclines me to recommend that Japanese authorities be pressed to lessen restrictions against return of American missionaries and business men who have important interests there. Following is from letter addressed to the Embassy March 9 by missionaries representing present Nanking American community:
‘It seems to us that there is now no good reason why the Japanese should seek to place any restrictions on the presence or movement of American nationals in Nanking. Three months have elapsed since the occupation of the city, and there is at this time no conceivable danger which would of itself make it unwise for Americans to reside there. The present restrictions may possibly have been justified in the early days immediately following the occupation, but there is no reason for them now.
Furthermore, in addition to the fact that there is no reason why American citizens should longer be kept out of Nanking, there are also certain definite and positive reasons why they should return. In the first place, their return is needed in order to assess properly the damages to American property recently occasioned by Japanese soldiers. Only the various owners or persons responsible for such property can file satisfactory statements in regard thereto. But of even more importance than this is the fact that additional workers are needed to meet the great humanitarian needs which the present emergency has thrust upon us. Those who are now available for this task are all too few, and various matters, especially public health, have been already far too long neglected. Again, apart from the relief work, there are the regular tasks of business, mission, or other enterprises, which those concerned therewith naturally desire to carry forward at the first opportunity. Finally, there is the obvious fact that the Open Door—a vital principle to our Government—can be kept open only if a sufficient number of Americans (and other foreign nationals) stay by their jobs and keep it from being shut. Thus taken together all these reasons combine to make a strong case for seeking the immediate removal of the restrictions that now prevail.’”
Gauss
- George Atcheson, Jr., Second Secretary of Embassy in China.↩