893.102S/2185: Telegram
The Consul at Shanghai (Butrick) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:50 p.m.]
782. Terrorism in Shanghai. Reference my 735, August 3, noon. On August 5 the Senior Consul circulated the text of a proposed letter from the consular body to the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council. At my suggestion certain changes were made in the letter as indicated below. The letter read:
“As regards remedial measures to combat armed crime in Shanghai, my colleagues, after exhaustively exploring such possibilities as appear to be practical, have concluded that the best way to serve the purpose would be for the Council to extend and elaborate its collaboration and cooperation with the forces of law and order of all the other administrations in the Shanghai area, including the police force of the city government of Greater Shanghai, the Japanese police forces and the river police. The Council’s own police force should be strengthened as a means of accomplishing the desired object.”
I suggested that this part be changed to read:
“As regards remedial measures to combat armed crime in Shanghai, my colleagues, after exhaustively exploring such possibilities as appear to be practical, have concluded that the best way to serve the purpose would be for all police organs enforcing law and order in the Shanghai area [to arrange] for the extension and elaboration of equal mutual collaboration and cooperation. The Council’s own police force should be strengthened with a view toward taking the most effective measures against terrorism.”
The change suggested by me was adopted. No other colleagues suggested any change in the wording of the matter.
The letter as sent the Chairman, which has not been published, will be forwarded by mail. In effect it can hardly be considered constructive. In my opinion the most valuable contribution was made by the Chairman of the Council when he published his letter to the consular body and thus obtained a large measure of publicity not only here but abroad. This airing of the local situation was doubtless irritating to the Japanese and the régimes which they control and their subsequent efforts, including the publication of the remarks of the Japanese Consul General, may well have been aimed primarily toward counteracting the effect of the Chairman’s published statement, especially [Page 766] vis-à-vis the Japanese. In making this observation I still hold to the opinion expressed in the penultimate paragraph of my 735, August 3, noon.
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping, code text by air mail to Tokyo.