340.1115A/659: Telegram
The Consul General at Genoa (Balch) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 21—2:15 p.m.]
69. The four steamers named below which have sailed from Genoa for New York this morning carried the following numbers of American and alien passengers coming from all parts of Europe: Excalibur May 2, Americans 57, aliens 27; Manhattan May 4, Americans 317, aliens 504; Exeter May 16, Americans 81, aliens 49; Washington May 19, Americans 483, aliens 588, making a total of 938 American citizens and 1,168 aliens.
Should American passenger ships now sailing from Mediterranean ports continue existing sailing schedules and carry only Americans as [Page 100] passengers I believe that they can carry American citizens from all European countries who may wish to go to the United States as a result of war conditions even if their sailing schedules are modified to include Bordeaux and Cobh. Except for government officials and their families and some representatives of American business concerns most other Americans now in Italy and elsewhere in Europe live here permanently and it is believed that a large proportion of them will not leave regardless of conditions.