893.00/13590: Telegram
The Consul General at Canton (Spiker) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 4—6 p.m.]
Referring to my telegram July 3, 5 p.m.,82 American resident in Wuchow, Kwangsi, in June 30 letter reports that official families from [Page 522] Nanning, Liuchow and elsewhere in Province are pouring through Wuchow en route to Hong Kong; that Nanking bombers have been making daily flights over Nanning, Liuchow and Kweihsien from where most of the populace have fled; that there is underlying fear in event of defeat Pai83 “will turn Red”; that Kwangsi currency reached new low on June 3 when it suddenly dropped to four to Hong Kong dollar; and that Kwangsi Bank remained closed. Wuchang, however, remained quiet.
Missionaries express serious fears that popular indignation over soaring food prices and forcible enlistment for unpopular civil war may precipitate uprisings and conversion of Province to Communism. Such information is of interest in the light of a missionary’s previously expressed conviction that Red influence in Kwangsi is much stronger than is generally believed, as evidenced by increasing percentage of Moscow trained aviators and technical personnel, radical literature and other signs, and also of various fragmentary information suggesting the 19th Route Army elements associated with Kwangsi have been working for alliance with Reds as in 1933 Fukien rebellion.
Sent to Peiping, Nanking, Shanghai, Hankow.