894.8591/1
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy (Swanson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I acknowledge the receipt of the Navy Department’s secret letter of April 27, 1934 ((SC)EF37), in which reference is made to the reported importation into Japan of large quantities of raw materials essential for belligerent purposes, and in which it is suggested that an indication of the possibility of hostilities being initiated would be a concentration of Japanese shipping in Japanese ports. The request is made that American consular officers be instructed to check and compare carefully all movements of Japanese vessels with the published schedules of their movements, in order to detect any marked deviation therefrom.
The Department is most desirous of cooperating in every way practicable with the Navy Department. It is, however, reluctant to issue a general instruction to consular officers in the sense of your request, for the reason that a systematic effort on the part of American consular officers in all parts of the world to follow the movement of Japanese vessels would inevitably become a matter of public knowledge and would tend to affect adversely the relations between the United States and Japan. It is believed that American naval attachés, who are of course stationed in all the principal maritime countries, would be in position to procure sufficient information to indicate whether a concentration of Japanese vessels is being effected.
The American Consul at Kobe, Japan, is under standing instruction to render a monthly report on Japanese shipping, and he has at various times reported on the distribution of Japanese vessels in various parts of the world. He is now being directed to follow the matter as closely as possible and to report by telegraph if he should procure information tending to indicate any significant change in the distribution of Japanese vessels.
Sincerely yours,