could not be changed in such a way so that it would read: 'to further German interests to a specially great degree instead of Ho further German interests as far as possible1• The Japanese Ambassador seemed to consider a change of that sort possible. "After that he once more emphasized in epic verbosity that the Japanese Government would do everything necessary to secure the German interests. The idea of his statements seemed to be that one was, to be sure, in practice willing to grant Germany a better position than all the other nations and to express this in the text as far as possible, but that one would not agree to commit oneself in a definite treaty form. The Japanese Ambassador further declared that he would also willingly accept further Germain proposals for modifications regarding the Pro Memoria. WI explained to the Japanese Ambassador that at present I could not take up a standpoint regarding the text of the Pro Memoria. To me it seemed that the draft did not go further than the most preferential treatment which, in view of Germany's special situation, was not satisfactory. However, I would have this plan thoroughly examined and would then give him a report regarding the outcome of this examination. “The Japanese Ambassador then briefly mentioned the present situation of the German-Japanese negotiations for the commercial treaty. Unfortunately Japan was at present not capable of paying foreign bills of exchange to a greater extent. “I declared that I was not informed about details and referred him to Min. Dir. WIEHL.