File No. 367.116/219
The Acting Secretary of State to the Foreign Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Barton)
Washington, October 27, 1914.
Sir: The Department is in receipt of your letter of October 241 quoting from several communications received by you from missionaries of the American Board in Smyrna with regard to conditions there and what they state to be the hostile attitude of the local authorities and the native population toward all classes of foreigners in that locality. You speak of the anxiety of the American colony in Smyrna and state that you feel sure that this Department will take “every necessary, wise precaution” for the protection of American life and property in Turkey at the present time.
In reply you are informed that the United States ships North Carolina and Tennessee are both in Turkish waters at the present time and will remain there for the time being. You are also advised that the Department has received encouraging advices from the American Ambassador at Constantinople informing the Department that the Secretary of the Embassy, who went to Smyrna recently to make a personal investigation, reports that he found conditions there much improved.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩