AmCham Shanghai 100th Anniversary – A Few Extras #2 – JB Powell Gets Kicked out of AmCham

As I noted yesterday (see my post on the history of Sterling Fessenden AmCham didn’t want you to know) the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai is celebrating its 100th anniversary and has been posting rather a lot of interesting articles on the glorious history of Americans in Shanghai. But they’ve been rather judiciously edited to prevent any talk of disagreements among the Americans in Shanghai. It seems worthwhile telling a few extra tales that somehow slipped off the official record!

Today, the great J.B. Powell, fearless American journalist in Shanghai and a teller of truth to power (including the AmCham) for which he usually got in trouble (particularly with the AmCham!!) – the article is here.

Now while Powell is a great hero in many ways, plenty of them noted in this article, it somehow forgot to mention that the powers-that-be at the AmCham in Shanghai, allied with various corrupt American business interests in the city at the time, ignominiously booted him out of the organisation when he said what they didn’t like to hear…They can claim him as a great American in Shanghai but they should really acknowledge that, at the time when AmCham Shanghai was under the sway of some pretty corrupt individuals, they tried to expel him….

In 1927 J.B. Powell published a famous “New China” special edition of his China Weekly Review. In it he argued that Chiang Kai-shek, then engaged on the Northern Expedition and having just taken Hankow and Nanking from warlords for the Republic, was here to stay. This opinion – however valid and self-evident to most – didn’t suit many in the AmCham (who would presumably have thought of themselves as diehard republicans in their own country). Prompted by a senior member of the AmCham, the corrupt businessman Frank Jay Raven (more of him later), they hastily convened a meeting which, contrary to the organisations own stated by-laws and in the sway of crooked American business interests, attempted to expel Powell. Powell was a strong supporter of Chiang, the republic and a unified China while many in the upper ranks of the AmCham ridiculously considered Chiang a “Bolshevik”.

Fortunately not everyone agreed with the super-dodgy big cheeses at the AmCham – Powell’s “New China” special was the best selling issue of the Review ever and had 100 advertisers, mostly American companies who continued to place advertising with Powell despite being discouraged from doing so by the AmCham, who declared his opinions as now ‘beyond the pale’. It is to the adverisers credit that they resisted the pressure from Frank Jay Raven-controlled AmCham and saw that the future lay with Chiang and the KMT. As Edgar Snow commented (then a young man working for Powell after having recently arrived in China and soon himself to be castigated by the AmCham for his left wing opinions), he “plagues the American money-grabbers in Shanghai”.

It should also be noted that most sensible China watchers rallied to Powell’s defense against the AmCham – for instance Asia: The Journal of the American Asiatic Association called AmCham’s tactics against Powell “highly intimidatory” and argued that his only crime was being “too liberal” for the AmCham’s decidedly reactionary tastes. It was also noted by many that extreme American reactionaries, such as the notorious George Bronson Rea, who had long advocated Japanese occupation of China, were never considered for expulsion from the AmCham – even after the summer of 1937 support for Japan was not enough to get you kicked out of the AmCham in Shanghai.

It is also worth remembering that the AmCham’s support for the suppression of the 1927 strikers in Shanghai (which led to their massacre thanks in large part to the actions of Stelring Fessenden – see yesterday’s post – was opposed by the President (that’s the President of the United States of America!!) and the Secretary of State in D.C. – not only did the AmCham take sanction against someone they disagreed with but they openly defied American policy from the Oval Office down!!

For the record…Powell’s own recollection of the events from his autobiography My 25 Years in China….shortly after Powell’s “New China” edition…

"the board of directors (of AmCham) called a special meeting of the chamber and formally 
requested the resignation of the editor of the China Weekly Review because of the paper's 
editorial policy. Although an active member of the chamber almost from the date of its organization 
in 1917, I was not notified of the special meeting and only through accident learned of it in time 
to reach the meeting place before the vote on the resolution was taken. I had that morning received 
another telegram from the Review's Washington correspondent, Mr. Underwood, confirming further 
the opposition of President Coolidge and Secretary of State Kellogg to any armed interventionist 
program, and had a copy of it in my pocket when I went to the meeting. The meeting was attended 
by only a small percentage of the membership, and as I looked over the gathering I had a feeling 
that it was a "packed" meeting. My surmise was borne out when the members present, one after 
another, got up and condemned the China Weekly Review for its editorial attitude as being 
contrary to the interests of American business in Shanghai and of foreigners generally in China. 

Before a vote was taken I stated that I realized fully the seriousness of the crisis in China,
 but was convinced that armed action by the Powers would only have the effect of strengthening 
the radical elements and their Soviet supporters who were trying to overthrow the moderate KMT 
faction, led by General Chiang Kai-shek. I also explained that the views I had expressed editorially
 in the Review coincided with the traditional views of the United States Government, and 
particularly with the views of the Administration leaders. I then read the telegram I had received
 that morning from Washington, which further confirmed the previous message, that Washington was 
opposed to armed intervention, except for the protection of the lives and property of American
 citizens from mob violence. 

I had scarcely resumed my seat when a local American lawyer, Chauncy P. Holcomb, a Delawarean,
 and a former District Attorney attached to the United States Court for China, got up and made
 a fiery speech in which he denounced the "pusillanimous" policy of the United States Government 
and charged that the China Weekly Review "was largely responsible for the attitude of our home 
authorities In letting the Americans and other foreigners down." Before the vote was taken someone 
raised a parliamentary question by calling attention to the by-laws of the chamber, which provided 
that no member of the chamber could be expelled without due notice in writing being given and a 
certain number of days permitted to elapse so that a formal reply could be made. But the members 
present would not listen to opposition, even on constitutional grounds, and passed the resolution 
by a considerable majority. I immediately declared my determination to continue my editorial policy 
and refused to comply with the chamber's resolution demanding my resignation unless the chamber's 
action was confirmed at a meeting called for the purpose in accordance with the by-laws 
of the organization. 

No such meeting ever was held."

Powell goes on to claim that various American business interests that dominated the AmCham, 
namely the "Raven Group" led by Frank Jay Raven, a crooked American businessman (who to be fair the 
AmCham now - while praising in general - admit was dodgy - here) were out to get him and anyone 
who put principle before business. You can read all Powell's autobiography here.

Frank Jay Raven - a crook who successfully sought to influence the Shanghai AmCham to extreme 
reactionary positions and led the charge to expel Powell

Perhaps that little altercation between Powell and the AmCham might have been worth including?? Don't ya think??

(BTW: for anyone who wishes to read the "New China" edition of the China Weekly Review from 1927 
I did donate a bound copy of it some years ago to the Royal Asiatic Society's library in
Shanghai, where I assume it still resides)