893.48/1407: Telegram

The Ambassador in China ( Johnson ) to the Secretary of State

48. Your 32, January 22, 3 p.m. I have asked Gauss for names of American Advisory Committee as now constituted and in addition have asked him to suggest names of representatives of Protestant and Catholic missions and of Jewish committee [communities?] as I have no information here available that would enable me to name suitable persons. I shall telegraph names as soon as received from Gauss. I have asked Gauss to telegraph statement. My statement follows:

“Thousands of Chinese farmers and laborers are being driven from farms and home[s] in city and village into the interior of the country where food, medicine and housing are inadequate. In the Shanghai, Hangchow, Nanking area alone over 20,000,000 people are affected. Transportation facilities as far inland as Szechuan are choked by this mass movement of terrified people. Unharvested crops have been left to rot; new crops will not be planted in the deserted fields this spring. The plight of this people will be piteous in the months to come. Nelson Trusler Johnson.”

It is impossible for me to estimate number of people affected by hostilities. Situation will be affected by conditions described by Allison4 in his 33, January 22, 4 p.m.5 indicating an unwillingness on the part of Japanese military to cooperate in permitting foreigners to administer to the relief of Chinese civil population within their lines. As hostilities spread, conditions will be aggravated and only agencies available in areas affected will be foreign missionaries who have devotedly remained at their posts to administer to the relief of their people.

Repeated to Shanghai.

Johnson
  1. John M. Allison, Third Secretary of Embassy in China at Nanking.
  2. Vol. iii, p. 49.