893.102S/2136: Telegram
The Consul at Shanghai (Butrick) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 23—9:08 a.m.]
681. On July 20 the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council addressed a letter to the Senior Consul10 in regard to terrorism and released the contents of the letter to the local press. The text is [Page 755] quoted at the end of this telegram. The Senior Consul circularized the letter to his colleagues and invited their attendance at 3:30 p.m. on July 22 at a consular body meeting to consider the matter. The Japanese Consul General refused to attend on short notice and the meeting is now scheduled for July 25. It is my conjecture that the Japanese Consul General wishes to obtain instructions from Tokyo before attending the meeting.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon the spokesman of the Japanese Embassy stated the action of the Chairman of the Council in releasing the letter to the press before it was circulated to the consular body “was not a proper procedure.” The spokesman added the consuls [Council?] Chairman should have consulted the other members of the Council before writing and publishing such a letter. The spokesman is reported to have added that there are many causes for the terrorism disorder in Shanghai but that “the chief cause is the failure on the part of responsible parties in Shanghai to face the realities of the situation here” and “many people in Shanghai are living in a land of fairy tales, and they insist on adhering to decrees. The Chungking Government can exercise no power in this area. It is the Japanese forces and the new Government in Nanking that exercise the real power in Shanghai. For instance, the fact that the question of the special district courts has not been settled as yet is directly due to this lack of recognition of realities.”
The Senior Consul stated that at the meeting he intends to propose resolution “roundly condemning any and all forms of terrorism in Shanghai, such resolution to be made public after adoption.”
It is not improbable that the Japanese Consul General will propose at the meeting that Japanese gendarmes be permitted to increase their activities in the Settlement and that Japanese influence in the Shanghai municipal police be augmented.
In my opinion the situation may be slightly ameliorated by an increase in precaution by the defense forces and the Shanghai municipal police but any fundamental improvement is contingent upon action by the Japanese and Chinese Governments, primarily the cause of the failure, in controlling their agents in the Shanghai area.
The Chairman’s letter follows:
“You will have shared the horror with which I heard of the assassination by gunmen in the International Settlement of Mr. Samuel H. Chang, a director of the Port Mercury Company.
Four days ago, bombs were thrown at the newspaper office of the Shun Pao, situated in Hankow Road; as a result numerous persons were injured and one was killed. On the evening of the 28th of last month there was assassinated in Fukien Road the proprietor of the Kuo Min Daily News, the newspaper agency concerned [Page 756] had previously received threats of drastic action should it continue its present policy, which is to support Mr. Wang Ching-wei. Mr. N. F. Allman, the publisher of the Shun Pao, is one of the seven foreign newspaper men who were reported in the daily press of July 16 as being subject to a demand from the Chinese Government in Nanking that they should leave Shanghai. Of the truth of this report I have no knowledge. Mr. Samuel Chang, who was horribly murdered yesterday, is among the 83 persons whose names were published by the Central China Daily News, which reported that their arrest had been ordered by the Chinese Government at Nanking. There may be no connection between the publication of this report and the murder to which I am referring, but that there is cause for anxiety I am confident no one will doubt entirely.
You know, and all your colleagues know, that the Council and the Municipal Police are doing all that they possibly can to check terrorists. Their efforts, however, cannot be successful as long as political factions are permitted to attempt to attain their objective by armed crime. The Council deplores every form of lawlessness, whatever be its motive and regardless by whom it is committed. In the past we have been able to be proud of the International Settlement as a place where all responsible persons set themselves to discourage crime and uphold security. Today it would seem that Shanghai is a prey to warring factions who pay no regard for the sanctity of human life and who are prepared to adopt any and every means to attain their objectives. A large part of the civilized world is now in a state of disorder and suffering the horrors of war. Still more desirable would it seem to be that this huge commercial city should be maintained as a place where ordinary persons can carry on their lawful occupations in peace and security.
I am confident that no responsible person can approve of assassination as a weapon. As the elected Chairman of the Council I feel it my duty to call to your attention, as Senior Consul, the deplorable state of affairs now existing in Shanghai. In appealing to you I am appealing to the conscience of the civilized world. I, therefore, feel it right to send a copy of this letter to the public press. May I express the earnest hope that you may feel it right to call an immediate meeting of the Consular Body and to urge every one of your colleagues to cooperate with you in assisting the Council to check the present terrible wave of political crime which is destroying all confidence here and ruining the reputation of Shanghai throughout the world”.
Sent to the Department. Repeated to Chungking, Peiping. By air mail to Tokyo.
- The Danish Consul General (Scheel).↩