861.00/4422: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan ( Morris ) to the Acting Secretary of State

The Minister for Foreign Affairs requested me to confer with him yesterday and our talk covered a wide range of subjects. …

I called his attention to their [the] continued delay in the settlement of the Tientsin incident and pressed vigorously for some immediate action. He informed me that his latest advices indicated that our consuls at Tientsin had almost reached an agreement on the facts. He was extremely friendly and talked on all subjects with unusual frankness. As I was leaving he expressed his pleasure that our relations of confidence permitted us to discuss and settle perplexing questions in such a satisfactory manner. All this is in singular contrast to the prevailing public impression. Newspaper comment continues to be bitterly anti-American, but the criticism has become less specific and rather more vituperative. Several resident Americans have called on me during the past week to inform me of the growth of anti-American sentiment among the Japanese people, which is no doubt wholly the result of the newspaper campaign.

Morris