893.102 Tientsin/524: Telegram
The Consul General at Tientsin (Caldwell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:25 p.m.]
268. My 263, November 3, 10 a.m.42 This morning I discussed with the Japanese Consul General all of the barrier cases of Americans, which he undertook to take up with the Japanese military in the hope of effecting an improvement.
However, the most that I was able to obtain regarding barrier passes for alien employees of American firms was that if, as a temporary expedient, I would send him as being the most urgent a less number of applications than were returned on October 24th, he would endeavor to persuade the military to approve the issuance of some additional passes on the ground that regardless of the situation when the number of 150 was stipulated by the military last summer, more passes are now required by other firms. It is view of the Japanese military that as many more passes have been issued to American firms than to firms of other nationalities Americans should be satisfied; and that the issuance of a larger number of passes will endanger the “whole barrier system”. I contended that the number of passes issued to Americans should be dependent only upon the needs of American firms, with whose business the Japanese authorities have repeatedly stated this Embassy desires to interfere unnecessarily, and that the number of passes issued to other nationals should have no bearing upon this question. I stated that the applications sent to the Japanese Consulate General had already been selected from among a much larger number received at this office as being the most urgent and that I was not sure that any basis could be found for selecting and forwarding a less number; that still further applications have been received and are being received each day; and that if I send him applications in accordance with his request of this morning it must [not?] be understood that no more applications will be requested; that no maximum number can be set; and that applications will have to be requested as need arises.
In addition to the 65 applications returned, 29 new applications have been requested, and probably 30 more will be filed if issuance is resumed. These include applications from several firms which have not previously received passes, some of them being firms, such as fur exporters, whose business was not active last summer.
Memorandum of conversation air mailed to Tokyo. Repeated to Peiping, Shanghai. Air mailed to Tokyo.
- Not printed.↩