893.61331/237: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
540. Your 1212, November 27, noon.49 The Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Richmond, Virginia, has informed the Department under date December 5, that its representatives in China have been unsuccessful in their negotiations with Japanese officials in Shantung and are awaiting the results of official protest; that unless immediate results are obtained, they will be unable to purchase any of this year’s crop; and that failure in this respect may force them to close their business in Shantung and will probably mean their final elimination from that field.
[Page 557]As opportunity occurs, and unless you perceive objection, please continue to press the case of the Universal Leaf Tobacco Company with the appropriate Japanese authorities along the lines of the last paragraph of the Department’s telegram No. 488, November 20, 5 p.m.
Sent to Tokyo via Peiping. Repeated to Chungking, Shanghai, Tientsin, Tsingtao.