893.102 Tientsin/542: Telegram
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 19—7:35 a.m.]
641. My 635, December 14, 3 p.m.58 I spent the day of December 15 in Tientsin with the American Consul. In the morning I inspected the detachment of American Marines now in Tientsin and received one or two callers among them Mr. Meyers, the British Commissioner of Customs, Mr. Muto, the Japanese Consul General and [Page 258] an old friend, and Mr. Nathan who is General Manager of the Kailan Mining Administration. In the afternoon I spent about 2 hours with the officers and executive committee of the Tientsin American Chamber of Commerce. The Commissioner of Customs stated that business in the Tientsin area, as viewed by the customs, was deteriorating due not only to tremendous losses suffered as the result of the summer flood but also to the fact that the peasants in the area tributary to Tientsin were concentrating on the growing of food to the exclusion of exportable raw material such as cotton and were spending less on articles. He made the significant statement that the customs now have on deposit in the Yokohama Specie Bank in the form of customs revenue approximately 150,000,000 dollars in Federal Reserve Bank notes or approximately half of the acknowledged circulation of such notes. He expressed the belief that the future of business due to the fall in purchasing power of the people in the interior, the tendency to hoard Chinese national currency and the increase in the issuance of unconvertible Federal Reserve Bank notes was gloomy indeed and must deteriorate further with danger of collapse unless some turn for immediate relief comes very soon.
Mr. Nathan of the Kailan Mining Administration confirmed local opinion that there was no dearth of coal in the neighborhood of the concessions at Tientsin but that unless there was a change in the attitude of the Japanese in regard to the barriers and in regard to the transportation of coal by truck and lighter, now handicapped by conflicting interpretations of regulations by Japanese sentries, the future situation of the British and French Concessions in regard to the coal situation would continue on a hand to mouth basis throughout the winter.
Mr. Muto made a call of courtesy but during his visit the Consul General raised the question of inconveniences caused American citizens and their employees by the system prevailing at the barriers. The Consul General had made a request for 10 no examination permits for employees of American citizens which Mr. Muto stated had been favorably acted upon and would be returned duly stamped on the afternoon of the 15th. Mr. Caldwell referred to a recent letter which he had addressed to the Consul General dealing with inconveniences suffered by American citizens whose identification cards, issued by the American Consulate General and countersigned by the Japanese Consul General, under an early arrangement between the two, while relieving such Americans from the necessity of search, did not relieve them of the necessity of delays at the barriers and the necessity of passing the examination sheds for purpose of identification. Mr. Caldwell had informed the Japanese Consulate General that relying on assurances continually given he had been reluctant [Page 259] to ask for military passes for American citizens but that unless the situation facing Americans could be ameliorated he would have to ask for military passes for the entire American community of some 300 people. (The advantage of a military pass lies in the fact that its possessor is permitted to pass the barriers without going through the examination sheds. Its possessor is consequently relieved of the necessity of examination and at the present time military passes are held only by official Americans and perhaps 15 unofficial Americans who obtained them themselves.) The Japanese Consul General informed Mr. Caldwell, in my presence, that he was submitting to the Japanese military for consideration, Mr. Caldwell’s request that Americans possessing identification cards be exempt from passing through the sheds but we inferred clearly from what he said that this request would not be received favorably by the Japanese military as it involved the “principles” of the “barrier system” under which, he asserted, all foreigners were treated alike.
The Executive Committee of the Tientsin American Chamber of Commerce discussed with me the inconveniences which they as Americans and businessmen at Tientsin have suffered because of the unconscionable delays at the barriers. They brought with them the draft of a memorandum regarding these matters which they proposed to lay before General Homma in which they were endeavoring to correct a statement attributed to General Homma in an interview given to Mr. Lee, Associated Press representative, on December 7. In that interview General Homma conveyed the impression that the Japanese military had gone out of their way to be accommodating to American citizens and felt hurt at the attitude of the American Chamber of Commerce which he termed ungrateful. (See Embassy’s telegram 625, December 8, 7 p.m.59) Among the other inaccuracies General Homma was in that interview reported to have stated his discrimination in favor of Americans was indicated by the fact that he had issued more than 200 barrier passes to less than 300 Americans living in Tientsin in contrast with some 1,500 British residents and 1,300 French residents.
The Chamber pointed out and Mr. Caldwell confirmed this that they knew of no passes other than military passes issued to American citizens and that of the three hundred odd Americans living in Tientsin military passes have been issued only to officers and employees of the American Consulate General and to perhaps 15 additional private American citizens. The Tientsin American Chamber of Commerce informed me and the Consul General that they intended to seek an interview with General Homma and to present to him the statement of their difficulties and to assure him that there was no question of hostility [Page 260] on their part. Both Caldwell and I stated that we saw no reason why they should not seek such an interview and present a reasonable statement of their position to General Homma.
Arriving in Tientsin by the early morning train I proceeded to the American Consulate General which is within the British Concession in the motor car of the Consul General. The Consul General was armed with a Japanese military pass and we passed through the barrier without difficulty other than to stop and display the pass to the sentry at the barrier. Without this pass our situation would have been different and we would have been under the necessity of dismounting from the car, proceeding through the examination shed with the crowds of others waiting there to be examined by the examining officials and reembarking in the car after passing through the shed.
During our visit my secretary Mr. Lafoon who was without identification other than a passport, proceeding with my wife and the wife of the American Consul General in an official car of the Marine detachment at Tientsin to visit the country club, was stopped and it was only Mrs. Caldwell’s knowledge of Japanese that obviated the necessity of Lafoon being required to get out of the car and passing through the examination sheds both going to and coming from the club. I offer this for the purpose of illustrating the absurd situation now existing at Tientsin. Getting in and out of the British Concession is like going in and out of a beleaguered city. Crowds of Chinese stand for hours at the barriers waiting their turn to pass and I saw a line of trucks waiting and was told that sometimes they wait for days. Examination facilities are inadequate and when a truck loaded with goods, American or otherwise, is permitted to proceed it is stopped halfway through the barrier and required to unload its entire contents whether packed or in an unpacked state, such as coal, before it is permitted to proceed through, increasing the delay.
Apparently a form of graft has grown up around the barriers with considerable profit to those conducting the examinations and I was told on good authority that it had been found possible to expedite the passage of goods by payment of fees.
The American community is more active than any other foreign community in Tientsin in airing its difficulties and insisting on its rights and therefore brings upon itself more attention from the Japanese. The British community apparently is resigned to its situation and asks little and receives little. One has the impression that the whole barrier system is an embarrassment to the Japanese as well as to foreigners but that face has become involved and that the Japanese do not know how to rid themselves of it in spite of the fact that its maintenance acts as a wet blanket on trade in Tientsin and to the detriment of Japanese as well as foreign business.
[Page 261]In the interview General Homma gave to the Associated Press it is interesting to note that he clearly believes that British attitude on Japanese terms for lifting the barriers has been stiffened by the action of the American Government in notifying Japan of the termination of the trade treaty of 1911 and that there exists in his mind an idea that unless the United States makes some gesture to win Japanese good will between now and January 26 he will be less’ kindly disposed toward Americans after January 26 than he is now.
Repeated to Chungking, Shanghai and Tientsin, code text to Tokyo by airmail.
- Vol. iii, p. 615.↩
- Not printed.↩