Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, The Far East, Volume IV

894.6363/305: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, January 11, 1937—1 p.m.
[Received January 11—6:55 a.m.]

4. Embassy’s 3, January 8, 7 p.m.

1. In Dickover’s talk on Saturday morning with Matsushima, Chief of the Commercial Bureau of the Foreign Office, the latter agreed with apparent sincerity that it was out of the question for the foreign oil companies either to invest further money in Japan or to guarantee an adequate return to Mitsui when their future was so uncertain as was indicated by the latest developments in the Japan and Korea quotas. He said that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had asked him to take up with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry the whole problem of the foreign oil interests in Japan and that Arita³¹ was pressing him almost daily to persuade that Ministry to seek an early adjustment of the situation by meeting in some degree the reasonable requirements of the foreign oil companies. The impression received by Dickover is that our representations of December 24³² have fallen on good ground, at least so far as the Foreign Office is concerned, and that Arita is genuinely disturbed at the situation of the oil companies.

2. Sansom in his talk with Matsushima also received the distinct impression that the Foreign Office is sympathetic to the plight of the oil companies.

Grew

31. Hachiro Arita, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs.
32. See Embassy’s telegram No. 268, December 24, 1936, 6 p.m., Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. iv, p. 805.