893.102S/1889: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 19—6:46 a.m.]
833. Reference Department’s No. 351, September 17, 10 p.m. Unless the Government now in control at Tokyo is more sober and farsighted than its predecessors, I would not expect Japan to agree to the proposed conference unless perhaps on the settled basis of some such fundamental formula as accepted by the British at the abortive Tokyo conference on Tientsin problems, and with an agenda extending far beyond the two subjects mentioned in your message and including such matters as the Chinese courts, land records, policing, suppression of terrorist and anti-Japanese elements in the Settlement and Concession, economic matters such as currency and the Chinese Government banks, and perhaps revision of the land regulations and reorganization of the municipal administrations. We might also expect Japan to seek the inclusion at the conference of representatives of the new Central Government regime soon to be set up at Nanking, with a view to obtaining for it some early return to recognition.
If however there is any reason to believe that the Japanese are now desirous of seeking a way out of the present situation with a view to protecting American-Japanese relations from further deterioration, [Page 81] the proposal outlined might offer that opportunity, but I feel certain that the Japanese objectives would be along the lines set out in the preceding paragraph.
I believe that the American position as recently explained to the Japanese Ambassador at Washington has caused the Japanese to pause for the moment in their plans both as to Shanghai and as to the British and French Armed Forces.
I have conferred with the Commander-in-Chief who concurs in the foregoing. He added the comment that a possible additional reason for Japanese opposition to the proposal would be the responsibility of delay which is self-evident.