151.10/1834
Memorandum by Mr. George L. Brandt 2a to the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
As directed by you, I called a meeting some time ago of Mr. Falck of IN, Mr. Flournoy of LE,3 Messrs. Alexander and Hunt of VD4 and Mr. Atcheson of FE,5 in my office, to consider the question of the treatment of Chinese seamen arriving in American ports. Mr. Falck informed us that representatives of the War Shipping Administration were having conferences with the Immigration officials to determine [Page 791] what steps might be taken to insure better treatment for Chinese seamen and avoidance of incidents such as the shooting of Chinese seamen who attempted to go ashore at New York in April last after having been refused shore leave for a long time while the vessel was in port. Mr. Burke of IN sent me the attached memorandum on July 21,6 stating the results of the conferences of the War Shipping and Immigration officials on the subject. It appears therefrom that shore leave privileges for Chinese seamen are to be equalized with those for other alien seamen on a trial basis for two months, that the British and Dutch have increased wages for Chinese seamen to practically a parity with the wages of other seamen and that several other measures, as indicated in Mr. Burke’s memorandum, have been taken to ameliorate the situation of Chinese seamen. So far as I can see, all that is practicable and possible for the time being has been done accordingly in behalf of Chinese seamen. You may wish to send this along to PA/H,7 FE, LE, VD and IN for their notation.