800.8890/853¼
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Mr. Iguchi called on me at his request. He referred to the situation which we had discussed at our last meeting, of the property consigned to American citizens and already paid for by them which had been [Page 861] landed and was being held in Japan. He stated that he had received by cable from Japan the following figures of such shipments.
| Copra | 1,000 | Tons |
| Copra waste | 1,445 | “ |
| Coconut | 1,071 | “ |
| Chrome iron ore | 3,600 | “ |
| Sugar | 5,000 | “ |
| Rattan products | 976 | “ |
| Miscellaneous charges. | 6 | “ |
| Total | 13,098 | “ |
Mr. Iguchi stated that he did not know whether or not this list was complete. He said that the Japanese Government would be prepared to send this cargo to the United States on a Japanese ship, together with American passengers who wished to return home, and mail, provided this government would reciprocate. I asked him whether he meant by that that we were holding in this country property which had been paid for by Japanese purchasers and the exportation of which was permitted by our export control regulations. He said that he so understood and believed that included among such products were some petroleum products. He stated that the Japanese Commercial Attaché29 would return from New York this afternoon with such a list which Mr. Iguchi would give to me tomorrow.
Mr. Iguchi asked whether the proposal was acceptable in principle to this government. I stated that I had no authority to reply to this question but that when all the facts were ascertained I would present the matter to the Secretary of State for his decision. I added that in the meantime I would attempt to find out whether there were any other shipments in Japan of the category referred to which were not included in Mr. Iguchi’s list.
I then called Mr. Iguchi’s attention to the fact that although this government had from the very beginning of the freezing been very generous in making withdrawals possible for residents of Japan, the Japanese Government had not done the same for American residents. Mr. Iguchi said that the Financial Attaché30 and himself had already cabled several times to Japan and hope to remedy the matter immediately. I replied that I trusted that this would be done since he had repeatedly stated that the Japanese Government would act reciprocally on all freezing matters.
I asked Mr. Iguchi whether he was making progress on furnishing us with the information necessary for the release of diplomatic accounts. [Page 862] He replied that he hoped to be able to do this within a few days.31