500.C1197/1137
The Secretary of State to the Secretary General of the League of Nations (Avenol)74
The Secretary of State of the United States of America acknowledges the receipt of circular letter No. C. L. 203.1937.XI, dated December 1, 1937, from the Secretary General of the League of Nations,75 in regard to the clandestine manufacture of and the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs in China.
Information in the hands of the American Government confirms the serious conditions obtaining in respect of the opium and manufactured drug traffic in China north of the Yellow River, including Manchuria and Jehol, and fails to indicate that any effective measures have been taken to bring about improvement in the situation in that area, notwithstanding the promulgation in Manchuria on July 22, 1937 of a local ordinance which attempts to limit manufacture of the more common opium derivatives to the local opium monopoly.
As to the situation south of the Yellow River, the information in the hands of the Government confirms that which was presented to the Opium Advisory Committee at its Twenty-second Session.76 Owing to the disorders which, for some time past, have been taking place in that area, complete information concerning developments in the drug situation in China south of the Yellow River since the spring and summer of 1937 is not yet available.