893.61331/103: Telegram
The Consul at Tsingtao (Gourley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:50 p.m.]
Embassy’s April 15, 2 p.m.15 Conditions along the railway between Tsingtao and Tsinanfu have greatly improved since April and trains are again running regularly. Japanese officials have promised British-American Tobacco Company protection for its tobacco buyers. Officials of the company who recently went into interior consider the situation much better. Eleven American citizen tobacco buyers are among those who intend to go to Ershihlipu on May 24, 25 and 26. No assistance or advice has been requested from this Consulate and unless the Department instructs otherwise no advice against taking risks will be voluntarily given to individual buyers. An official of the company states that the company would not let the men go if it were considered unsafe and believes it would needlessly frighten them if the Consulate should now advise them against taking risks.