793.94119/405: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 7—11:25 a.m.]
367. I have today carried out the instructions contained in the penultimate paragraph of the Department’s 87, February 28, 6 p.m. to the Ambassador. The person concerned states that he is fully aware that he is acting in a purely private capacity, that he is in no sense an intermediary between any governments, that he is simply trying to maintain the personal relations between Chinese friends of his who are in responsible positions in Hankow and Peiping and Shanghai, that he will try to see that we are in no way embarrassed in the matter and that he agrees in general with the views expressed by the Department. For the rest, his trip is simply an attempt to understand the outlook better in its practical bearing on his University affairs.
Sent to Hankow, repeated to Peiping.