Jan. 3.
'THE defeat of the Ministry of Communications in respect of the increased postal and telegraph rates, which have reverted to what they were before November 1, contains a moral on which we may be permitted to dwell at the beginning of the New Year. It is rumoured that at one point in the story the mutual jealousy of two prominent men played a part: but this is the sort of thing that we are accustomed to hear at every juncture in Chinese politics. It does not affect the mainspring of the Ministry's discomfiture, which was due to the combined force of public opinion in several parts of the country. In six of what might be called the key provinces, Kuangtung, Hungn, Chekiang, Fukien, Kiangsi and Fengtien, the business community unanimously declared that the new charges were not to be endorsed; and as in the old dynastic days, when the people made their meaning clear, Peking gave way. The new charges are said to be only temporarily in abeyance, but. one imagines that this is merely a pretence of the usual face-saving device.
What it was that differentiated the force of this movement of public opinion from other popular protests that can be recalled, is a mystery. For example, Chinese businessmen have denounced the famine surtaxes not once nor twice, yet without avail. It may be said that in the present instance they were fortunate in getting General Lu Yung-hsiang of Chekiang and General Ho Feng-ling of Shanghai and Sungkiang on their side. But this merely puts back the question one stage without answering it: for it is apparent now, as it was not at first, that General Lu and General Ho acted in direct response to the pressure of public opinion. The point to emphasize is that such a force does exist and can, make itself felt; how it did so is of less importance. If the public has carried the Tuchuns with it once, there appears no reason why it should not do so again; if it has successfully resisted @ new imposition in one direction, why should it not have equal success with others already existing? It cannot too often be reiterated that the political salvation of China lies in the hands of her business men, if they will but exert themselves as they have done in the matter of posts and telegraphs.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.