Tae "Current Comm-ut" in the January issue of the " Journal of the American Asiatic Association" opens with a notice of the attempt, already alluded to in our columns, made by certain Russian merchants and manufacturers to supplant American cotton goods in North China by Russian goods made up to imitate the American fabrics and with well-known American chops. The writer says: "Secretary Hay calls attention to the fact that under the terms of our trade-mark convention with Russia of 1868, any American citizen who finds that his trade-mark has been fraudulently used la that Empire has his redress in the Russian Courts, While that fact removes the contemplated outrage from the sphere of diplomatic remonstrance on the pir of our Minister at St. Petersburg, it is to be feared that the confidence of American merchants in the judicial impartiality of the Russian tribunals 1 is not sufficiently strong to warrant the expectation that their aid will be invoked for protection against the fraudulent practices of Russian manufacturers." The next note deals with the proposal of Russia to estab li-h custom-houses in Manchuria, which the writer characterises as essentially a wanton act of aggression—an invasion of Chinese sovereignty, which may well be regarded as a step towards the seizure outright of Chinese territory... There can be no divided responsibility in the supers vision of the sources of Cuinese revenue, whether the financial obliga-ions of the government at Peking e taken into account, or the neces~ sity of dealing equally and fairly with the trade of all nationalities, Russia can have no defensible reason for establishing a Customs service of her own on Chinese soil—no purpose to serve which is not a sinister one— and the sooner she is reminded of that with all possible diplomatic emphasis, the better it will be for all parties concerned."
The next note deals with the suggestions made to the U.S. Department by the American Asiatic Association of substitutes for the objectionable provisions in Article VIII of the Treaty of Shanghai, The writer of the note points ous that it is eminently desirable that i ive should be taken by to relieve the deadlock which is threatened in the international acceptance of the work of Sir James Mackay." The suggestion is that "an effort be made, if not altogether to abolish the native Custom-houses, at least greatly to reduce their number; that means be found to dispense with specia! offices for the collection of duty on native opium and the collation of duty on salt in transit; that no sanction be given to the imposition of excise or consumption taxes on the internal trate and merchandise of China; that 5 per cent, ad valorem, be fixed as the absolute maximum of any export duty, and that an effective ten per cent, or double the present import duty, be effected (sic) to provide the means to compensate the provincial governments for the of revenue entailed by the aboli-jon of all likin dues and other forms of taxation of foreign imports in transit from the port of entry to the interior markets of China," It may be presumed that Sir James Mackay and those a-sociated with him obtained the very best terms that China was willing to grant; whether China will concede b-fter terms to the American Commissioners remains to be seen; but to exact, if it were possible under the circumstances, terms injurious to China would nos in the long ran b-refit foreign trade. A treaty of commerce must be fair to both parties if the trade between them is to be permanently benefited.
The next note deals with the proposed new currency in the Philippines, and the bist commends a letter from "An Old China Hand," dementing an American Conce-sion at Canton. The "Old China Hand" says;—"'The terminus of the Ameri-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.