893.51/3580: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Schurman )

300. Your 403, November 16, midnight, and 407, November 17, midnight.

Department understands that the accumulated customs reserves in the hands of the Chinese Government as indicated by the reference thereto by the Inspector General represents a trust separate and distinct from that which was created by the Agreement of 1912 which established the International Bankers Commission and guaranteed the payment of the indemnity and pre-Boxer pledges.31 If this understanding is correct, it would appear that the sinking fund trust thus provided for and now in the hands of the Inspector General was created wholly by the Chinese Government without the participation of the foreign powers, and in that case this Government does not feel warranted in giving or withholding sanction of the modification now proposed by the Chinese Government.

Hughes
  1. For text of arrangement, see MacMurray, Treaties and Agreements with and concerning China, vol. ii, p. 946.