893.102 Tientsin/551: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:50 p.m.]
23. My 637, December 13, 5 p.m.89 and 636, December 11, 11 a.m.90 I received today a visit from Y. M. Chien, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Communications; J. H. Chen, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, and Tsuyee Pei, Assistant General Manager of the Bank of China. They stated that yesterday they called on the British Ambassador91 to discuss the disposition of the silver on deposit in the British Concession at Tientsin since they were informed that he was endeavoring to effect an arrangement that would be satisfactory to all the parties involved. The Ambassador told them he had caused steps taken in this matter to be brought to the knowledge of the Department of State and they thought therefore [Page 841] that the attitude toward the proposed solution of the question taken by their respective banks might be of interest to the Department, especially in view of the interest felt in China’s currency by the American Government as shown in recent times by purchases of silver from China and in other ways. Following is summary of their statement: they understand that the British Government has proposed to the Chinese Government that this silver amounting to 19,000,000 dollars in Chinese currency be deposited in a neutral bank in Tientsin (possibly the National City [Bank of New York] or Belgian Bank which have the necessary space in their vaults) and that the equivalent of 100,000 pounds (roughly one-tenth) be devoted to relief of suffering in North China. The banks hold that this question concerns them as well as the Chinese Government since strictly speaking the money is part of the assets of as well as part of the reserves behind the currency, which currency the three banks named with the addition of the Farmers Bank have the duty to support. This matter concerns the whole country and not Tientsin alone. They deprecate the suggested arrangement because arbitrary disposal of such assets and of such reserves would lead the public to question in principle the stability of both the banks and the currency. They stated that half of the capital funds of the banks belonged to the Chinese Government but of the remainder a very large part had been subscribed by the public. They stated incidentally that twice as much silver was on deposit in the French Concession at Tientsin as in the British Concession and that the British Ambassador had suggested that they express their views to the French Ambassador92 as well as to him.
The informants said they thoroughly understood the desire of the Ambassador to effect a solution of this problem in order to bring an end to the restrictions on the British Concession but they were obliged nevertheless to express their views as summarized. They inquired what my personal views were and I replied that when the element of force was introduced all questions of this sort became extremely difficult to handle. I refrained from inquiring what solution the banks themselves would suggest and from all other comment on the merits of the question but said that I would inform the Department and the Ambassador93 of the considerations the informants had advanced as being interesting commentary on this much publicized matter. They intimated an intention to supply the Embassy with a memorandum further elucidating the subject.
Repeated to Peiping. Peiping please repeat to Tokyo.
- See ibid., p. 255, footnote 51.↩
- Ibid., p. 254.↩
- Sir Archibald J. K. Clark Kerr.↩
- Henri Cosme.↩
- Nelson Trusler Johnson.↩