New-York tribune., 1919-10-12

the Department of State. I then ad-
dressed the same request to the State
Department and it was refused, with
this statement:
The report has never received
the approval of the department for its
tendency is such that this department
is not disposed to give it circulation
under circumstances which might be
construed as implying any responsible
ity for its conclusion. The proposal
embodied in the report has further
more been confused in some quarters
with certain matters now under negoti-
alton in China.
4 have obtained for you and en-
close an advance copy Of the report
on the railways of China prepared
by Frank Rhea, which contains a
consideration of the question Of con-
solidating or unifying the railways Of
China. This report is. not yet ready
for distribution to the public, but
doubtless will be given out after the
thrtieth Of the present month. | ven-
ture to hope that it will give you the
information for which you are seeking.
-Ro bert lansing"
Quickly Secreted He Says
"This treaty proposes to transfer a
great Chinese province to foreign
empire, and we are asked to assent to
it," continued Senator Brandegcc. 1t
seems germane for us to know at least
what constitutes the province Of Shan
tung and how it is related to the
great empire to whose dismembere-
ment we are asked to be party. The
Department of Commerce has this re-
port, which it secured to aid American
commerce.
"The minute it is discovered in the
Department of Commerce, it is grabbed
by the State Department and put under
September II Senator Lodge intro
duced resolution asking the transmits
sion Of this report to the Senate.
The resolution was unanimously adop-
ted on that day, but no attention what
ever was paid to it and three weeks
later Mr.. Lodge called attention to the
fact A few days later this message
from the President was received by
the Senate:
"'To the Senate: In response to the
resolution adopted by the Senate Sep
State be and he is hereby requested to
send to the Senate copy of the report
made by Mr.. Paul Whipham on 'neu-
tralization Of transportation in
China,'" am constrained to say that
after a thorough consideration of the
resolution and with every desire to
meet the wishes of the Senate l am
of the belief that the public interests
would not be conserved by the trans
mission to the Senate of the report re-
QucStcd.'
Doubts He Read 1t
~ wonder how many Senator'S think
Tthc President has read that report or
given it Thorough conside ration 2"
md fiv,y, kC1y
seen the original signature of the
President to that communication.
do not know whether anything can be
done about this matter"
II did not quite understand the SEN
ator," interrupted Senator Penrose,
"whether this was actually the Prcsi-
dents own signature on this commune
cation. I am q little curious to know
whether he signed it himself"
o! am not an expert in handwriting" !"
replied Mr.. Brandegee, "nor familiar
with the Presidents 81 gnaturc. But
the President arrived here September
20, and was Immediately taken charge
of by his physician, and has been i'll
ever since. 1t seems to me the Prcsi-
dent could not really have given this
matter the thorough consideration
which he states over his signature
he has given, l assume that if the
President signed the reply the State
Department sent to him for signature
and he signed it as routine matter.
he could not have had time to read
the report and give it thorough con
sideraton."
"Does the Senator recall when the
report was made" asked Senator
Hitchcock. at is quite possible the
report had been in the State Depart
ment for some time and been read by
the President at his leisure. 1t seems
to me little reckless for a Senator