893.515/1380: Telegram
The Consul General at Tientsin (Caldwell) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 25—8:10 a.m.]
44. Department’s 14, March 21, 7 p.m. In reply to communication which I sent on March 17 regarding questioning of Americans concerning possession of old notes, Japanese Consul General replied on March 23 that “upon representations made by this Consulate General manifests were issued to the Chinese Police Bureau through the military authorities to cease the questioning and searching of American citizens as to the possession of old notes”.
[Page 388]This morning I have received the following from Japanese Consul General in reply to letter of March 16 sent as Senior Consul: “The search of persons entering the Japanese Concession for possession of old legal tender notes has been discontinued as from yesterday, 23rd March, in this connection I would ask you to convey to our colleagues my sincere appreciation of their cooperation in the matter of preventing the circulation of old notes in the Japanese Concession”. This statement makes no reference to areas other than the Japanese Concession, but I have been assured orally by the Japanese Consulate General that it is applicable to other areas under Japanese military control.
I have received no complaints from Americans regarding this matter during the past week and believe that they have encountered little difficulty, although I understand from some informal conversations that in some cases they have been asked whether they had old currency, and in one case 20 cents local currency was seized. I have not heard of any other seizure of old notes in the possession of any American and the case mentioned in my 35, March 16, 5 p.m. involved only inspection of a billfold which was produced on demand at a bank.
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping, Tokyo.