500.A15a3/117
The Assistant Secretary of State (Castle) to the Under Secretary of State (Cotton)
Mr. Cotton: The Japanese Ambassador came in to talk with me on August 7th about naval limitation, as usual, and also I had an [Page 189] opportunity to give him an answer in writing in the form of an unsigned memorandum to certain questions he had asked about the arbitration treaty.32
I told the Ambassador, in general, what was going on in England | without, of course, giving him any details. The purpose of his coming was to say that his Government was very anxious not to have the question of ratio brought up if possible and to add to this that the Japanese felt very strongly that, on account of their long coast line and the need of boats to do police work, it would be impossible for them to accept the same ratio in cruisers which they had accepted in battleships and aeroplane carriers. He said he was merely telling me because he wanted the American Government to understand the Japanese point of view. I told him I would be glad to pass the information on to you.
I should suppose that this demand of the Japanese ought not to make any serious trouble. It seems to be, to some extent at least, justified. They do not want to build large cruisers and it might be possible to adjust matters by leaving out any question of ratio and allowing them to substitute in cruisers what they had cut down in battleships, for example.