390.1115A/633: Telegram
The Consul at Foochow (Rice) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 28—12:14 a.m.]
In my opinion once such [military?] operations were in progress, evacuation of local Americans might be impossible and would expose such Americans to very grave risks. As all roads leading to the interior have been made impassable to vehicles any organized evacuation would have to be carried out by launch. There are at Foochow no American-owned craft which could be used for this purpose. The British Consul is arranging in case of emergency to make space on British-owned launches available to local Americans and I would, of course, attempt to give them full information and render all practicable aid in the premises. However, past experience has shown that launches furnish conspicuous targets for aerial attack and I therefore feel that I could not recommend movement by such mode of travel while military operations were in progress except possibly under cover of darkness.
The Chairman of the Fukien Provincial Government, my British colleague and I consider that all American and British women and children and unessential males ought now to remove from Foochow and nearby coastal areas to less exposed points further inland. (If only a few able-bodied men remained in Foochow, they could, in case of necessity, probably make their way inland on foot over paths which would not be practicable for women with children, the aged and the unwell.) I propose therefore, unless instructed to the contrary, within a few days to send a circular embodying this advice to Americans at Foochow and in the coastal districts of Futsing and Hankong.
From preliminary conversations, it appears that very few Americans would, however, be willing to leave Foochow before actual invasion had commenced unless ordered to do so by their mission boards. The Department may wish to consider whether it is advisable to take this matter up with the boards concerned. (The American Board of [Page 453] Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, and the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church, 150 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. C, are responsible for almost all the missionaries concerned.)
Sent to the Department. Repeated to Chungking.