861.00/4197: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
1432. Your 1421, April 1st. Please see Secretary of War’s message to the President,7 forwarded today, which was drafted with concurrence of General March. I share Secretary Baker’s view and believe that the establishment of a zone six miles in width and of such great length would tend to convey the impression to the people of Siberia that foreign governments had undertaken to control not only for police purposes but also politically and commercially a considerable part of Siberian territory and that the use of the term “zone” would afford the enemies of inter-Allied control a good opportunity for criticizing the altruistic purposes of the United States and its associates. Is not a zone of occupation unnecessary in view of the great distances between stations? It would seem that the same purpose might be accomplished by limiting military activity to preservation of order along the railroad rather than to inject a political character which might readily follow the establishment of a zone of any definite width.
- Supra.↩