Office of the Historian

711.94/24068/11

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) to the Secretary of State

[Washington,] October 18, 1941.

Mr. Secretary: We have given special thought to the question whether there are steps which this country might take in relations with [Page 524] Japan which, while preserving the integrity of this country’s principles, would indicate that relations between the United States and Japan are being maintained. We now offer for consideration various suggestions, as follows:

1.
We might offer to charter Japanese merchant ships. We might give Japan in exchange cotton and commodities of non-military use, such as tobacco, medicines, pharmaceutical supplies, foodstuffs, wheat, flour, fertilizers, et cetera; also make payments on Japanese bonds in the United States.
2.
We might offer to furnish Japan steel to build ships for the United States, furnishing the steel on a graduated scale as ships are completed and delivered. An alternative of this would be to give Japan steel in exchange for Japanese ships, or a combination of these two possibilities.
3.
We might examine the possibility of setting Japanese factories to work for our needs.
4.
We might examine the possibility of effecting barter arrangements in incidental, non-military commodities, involving on the American side commodities such as cotton, tobacco, medicines, pharmaceutical supplies, foodstuffs, wheat, flour, fertilizers, et cetera, and on the Japanese side commodities such as tea, lacquer ware, pyrethrum flowers, et cetera.
5.
The Counselor of our Embassy at Tokyo might be accorded the rank of Minister. This might serve as an indication to Japan that the United States regarded its relations with Japan as of unusual importance.
6.
The instructions issued by the Navy Department to American naval vessels in the Pacific should be revised or interpreted so as to permit immediate resumption of the calling of American ships at Far Eastern ports now on their schedules.
7.
Some prominent Americans, such as Mr. Thomas Lamont, Mr. Bernard Baruch, or Senator Thomas, might go to Japan on a special visit.
8.
We might try to arrange for the sending of a professional baseball team to Japan.

M[axwell] M. H[amilton]