893.102 Tientsin/327: Telegram
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Smyth) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:32 p.m.]
321. Mr. A. T. Steele, correspondent of the Chicago Daily News, informed the Embassy this morning that during the past few days while in Tientsin he received the impression from Japanese Army officers that they were indignant that an Anglo-Japanese Conference was to be held in Tokyo as they were afraid that the civilian officials might arrange a conciliatory compromise which would undermine the intransigeant position assumed by them in Tientsin. The Embassy has gained the same impression from Peiping and Tientsin newspapers of all languages.
It seems possible that even if an agreement can be reached, it will not necessarily be implemented, for on more than one occasion the [Page 212] Japanese military on the contrary have flouted instructions from Tokyo.
Repeated to Chungking, Tokyo, Tientsin, Shanghai.