Office of the Historian

893.102S/1770

The Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council (Franklin) to the Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss)26

Shanghai, March 13, 1939.

Dear Mr. Gauss: Thank you for your letter of March 9, 1939, with which you enclose a copy of a letter addressed to you by Admiral [Page 18] Yarnell and a report in connection with raids carried out in the American sector.27

It was without the sanction of the Council and contrary to the instructions of the Commissioner of Police that raids were carried out in the manner to which you have drawn my attention. You may rest assured that immediate steps are being taken to make it clear that raids can only be carried out by the Shanghai Municipal Police.

I am indebted to the American authorities for drawing the Council’s attention to what has taken place.

In reply to the last paragraph of your letter, I have to inform you that after being temporarily loaned to the Japanese Gendarmerie for purposes of examination the Chinese who were taken into custody during the Kuling Road and Chengtu Road raids were returned to the Shanghai Municipal Police.

Very truly yours,

Cornell S. Franklin
  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul General at Shanghai in his covering despatch No. 2057, March 15; received April 11.↩
  2. For Admiral Yarnell’s letter of March 9, see supra; report not printed.↩