Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-22
No THREAT MEANT,'
HAN|HARA ASSERTS
IN NOTE To HUGHES
Japanese Ambassador Ex-
plains Use Of Words Grave
Consequences and Says
They Were MiscoGStFled

WASHINGTON, April 20.-A spe-
| cific disclaimer of any intent TO con-
the phrase grave consequences" in
his recent communication to Secre-
tary Hughes protesting against the
| Japanese exclusion, feature OF the
immigration bill is made by Ambas;;
sador Hanihara in a second letter to
the secretary made public today and
! characterized by Mr.. Hughes as q
frank and friendly explanation"
The ambassadors letter and a re-
| ply by the secretary were made pub.
4 lie by the state department, Mr..
| Hughes letter saying that. in the
light of the context of the original
letter, and prevailing friendship and
understanding between the two courl-
tries he had no doubt that these
words grave consequences were TO
be taken in the same sense you have
i stated, and I was quite sure that III
was far from your thought to ex-
press or imply any threat"
The correspondence was made pub,
/ lie after Secretary Hughes had given
much of his time for the past two
days to consideration Of the in;
/ ternational issue involved. He con.
ferred again today with President
Coolidge and before receipt of the
ambassador = second letter had been
advised of the desire of officials of
the embassy to .have an explanation
of the language of the protest placed
before the public.
Senators Siie t
What effect the explanation may
have on the pending exclusion leg
islation in congress was not apparent
tonight. Senator Lodge. chairman
of the senate foreign relations com
mittee, who in senate debate charac-
terized the phrase grave conses.
quences" as a yelled threat on
recent days has conferred with Pres
ident Coolidge on the question. but
leaders in congress desired oppor-
tunity to study the language of tile
latest letter before appraisiug the
situation.
Steps to send the immigration bib
to conference We're taken at the cap
itoi today and the conferees are ex
pected to begin work without DELAY
1t is understood that the aribas
sador made his explanation with the
approval of the Toxic foreign office
which had given its explicit indorse-
ment to the wording of the letter.
! Both communications, however. were
made public without comm snts S.-..
The letter written by Secretary
Hughes to the ambassador said:
Il am gratified to receive your
/ 1nf to-. ~ H. ~ l..
frank and friendly explanation OF
The intent of your recent note in
| relation to the pending immigration
bill. 1t gives me pleasure to be able
to assure you that reading the
words grave consequences in the
light OF their context and knowing
the spirit of friendship and under.
standing you have always manifest
| ed in our long associate | had no
| doubt that these words were to be
taken in the sense you have stated,
and / was quite sure that it was
far from your thought to express OF
imply any threat / am happy to
add that | have deeply appreciated
your constant desire to promote the
most cordial relations between the
peoples of the two countries.
with high esteem, 1 am, my dear
Mr.. Hanihara,
VERY sincerely yours.
'CHARLES e. HUGHES"
Ambassador Haniharas letter, UNI
der date OF April II, said:
:" Nv Dear Mr.. Secretary:
lin reading the gressional. rec
ord Of April IA, 1924, find that the
letter l addressed to you on April
10, a copy Of which YOU sent TO the
chairman Of the senate COMMITTEES
on immigration, was made a sub
ject Of discussion in the senate. In
the record it is reported that some
OF the senator's expressed the opin.
ion, which was apparently accepted
by many other members OF that
body, that my letter contained a
yelled threat AS it appears from
the record that it is the phrase
grave consequences which | used
in the concluding part of my letter
that some Of the senators construed
as a yelled threat ! may be per
mitted to quote here full text of
sentence which contained the words
in question.
Relying upon the confidence
you have been good enough to show
me at all times / have stated or
rather repeated all this to you very
candidly and in q most friendly
spirit, for I realize, as I believe you
DO, the grave consequences which
the enactment Of the measure re-
tanning that particular provision
would inevitably bring upon the
otherwise happy and mutually ad:
vantageous relations between our
two countries
NJ MI II
to understand how the two words,
read in the context, could be con.
strued as meaning anything like a
threat. simply tried to emphasize
the most unfortunate and deplorabls
effect upon our traditional friendship
which might result from the adop-
ton of q particular clause in the
proposed measure.
Would Impair Relations
i 1T would seriously impair the
good and mutually helpful relation
ship and disturb the spirit of mutual
regard and confidence which char
acterizes our intercourse Of the last
three-quarters of a century and
which was considerably strength
ened by the Washington conference
as well as by the magnanimous
sympathy shown by your people in
the recent calamity in my country.
Whereas there is otherwise every
promise of hearty cooperation be.
tween Japan and the United states
which is believed to be essential tic
the welfare not only of themselves
but Of the rest of the world, it wo1Id
create, or at least tend to create, an
unhappy atmosphere of ill-feeling
and misgiving over the relations be-
tween our two countries.
LAS the representative of my
country, whose supreme duty is to
maintain and if possible to draw
still closer the bond OF friendship
so happily existing between our two