AMERICAN CONSUL GENERAL, CALCUTTA

Letter, August 10, 1928⁵

[Robert Frazer, Jr., the American Consul General in Calcutta, wrote to Gandhiji on August 2, 1931:

"I beg to inform you that a telegram was lately addressed to the President of the United States of America by Estelle Cooper Gandhi, reading as follows:

`Mahatma Gandhi has informed me to inform you Nazimova6 has left him no alternative but to declare boycott on all American goods and call general strike on all American plantations which employ darker-skinned people. Boycott lifted only when Nazimova deported and Katherine Mayo presented for criminal libel here.' "I would be greatly obliged if you would inform me who Estelle Cooper Gandhi is and whether the above telegram was sent with your knowledge and approval. I would also be pleased to receive any comment that you may care to make in regard to this matter."⁷
After receiving the following reply, the Consul General sent a letter thanking Gandhiji.⁸]

Bardoli,
August 10, 1928

I have your letter. Dr. Bidhan Roy wrote to me about its subject-matter and I trust you have had a reply.

The whole story is a fabrication from start to finish. I know nothing of the parties mentioned therein.

Yours sincerely,