Chargé Wilson to the Secretary of State.
Tokyo, March 2, 1906.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt yesterday of the following telegraphic instruction:
Five thousand dollars additional received from Red Cross for transfer Japanese Red Cross relief famine sufferers. Draw for same on Secretary of State.
Root.
Accordingly, I have to-day drawn upon you for $5,000 and sent the minister for foreign affairs a check for the proceeds, to be conveyed to the Japanese Red Cross Society, like the sums previously sent. The amount in yen, at the rate of 49¾, was 10,050.25.
When I was calling upon Mr. Kato yesterday, he took the opportunity to express thanks and appreciation of the generous contributions coming from America for the relief of the famine sufferers, Mr. Kato feared that the extent of the suffering might have been exaggerated in the reports appearing in the United States, expressing doubt whether there had been actual deaths except in the case of invalids or other weak members of the community, and said he hoped that the liberal contributions from America were not being obtained as the result of overstatements of the misery in the northern provinces.
In regard to American contributions, it has been suggested that if these took the form of a shipload of Indian corn or such cheap foodstuff a new market for our export might possibly result. Of course, the Japanese people are devoted to rice, but many of the poorest have to eat millet, and the experiment of corn might be thought worth trying.
I have pleasure in mentioning the excellent work which is being done by the American residents at Sendai. They have peculiarly happy relations with the local government and the people about them; and their energetic committee, headed by Doctor de Forest, is perhaps the speediest of all agencies for bringing relief to the sufferers.
I have the honor to report that the President’s appeal for relief to be sent those afflicted by the famine in Japan was received here with many expressions of appreciation and admiration.
I have, etc.,