The month of February saw the usual scramble for loans.
Negotiations were entered into with the Consortium Banks to borrow £5,000,00C, but failed, and Japanese banks gave the Government Yen 9,000,000 on secret securities. To the students and merchants this was an indication that nothing would come of the Consortium and the forthcoming visit of Mr. Thomas W. Lamont. The anti-Japanese boycott was resumed with vigour and the middle class, consisting largely of merchants and students, moved further away from the government. The middle class were also formulating a programme which at that time included no payment of taxes and opposition to foreign rations making loans until internal peace was restored.
Meanwhile a number of students in Peking had been maltreated and imprisoned for their activities along the lines indicated above. Led by the students of Shanghai protest meetings were held thoughout the country and an effort was made to call a general strike unless Peking gave up its anti-student tactics..On April 27, a nation-wide strike of the students was called because of the general belief that the Peking Government was negotiating directly with Japan on the Shantung question.'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.