drop were not a set-back to busi ness and to those with fixed capital or incomes, we Kaye row to face a still more drastic test of endurance. The command has gone forth that provincial debts are to be paid by borrowing from the citizens of Lower Manchuria no less a sum than Mexican $50,000, 000. The loan is to be repaid at 6 per cent, in 1923 (7 1938). A detailed assecement of city and country has been issued. In other words, the people are being ordered to find for the Gov in addition to all other tax 12,000,000 Mukden paper, ing to the rate more or less prevalent just now, is a curious circumstance that Civil Governor Mo, who is evidently attempting a herculean task, formed a Japanese deputation the ether day thay the total amount of Fenguiao in circulation was $210, 000,000. The deputation had me quired whether the reported total was correct, viz, $500,000,000, If the lower figure is assumed to state the fact, one wonders how mach Paper will be left in circulation after the debt bonds have been taken up.
The fall of the taiyuan has caused sensation locally in so far as laymen are concerned, but in financial and commercial circles it has been expected for some There are four reasons ed for it and they will continue to play havoc with the taiyuan so Jong as no action is taken to stof, it from collapsing further. The chief is the oversupply of fengpiao (small coin dollar notes) which the printing press at Mukden has turned out these past two years. The other reasons are. these: the present political uncertainty of Mukden-Moscow relations, the decline in produce exports; and the bevpting of the yen by speculators, rounding—the can only be fally understood in financial and com mercial circles, As has already been. said, the chief reason is the indies criminate circulation of fengpiao, the exchange rate of which hay zigzagged up and down the chart like the tail-end of a typhoon, Unbound.
speculation has altered the me trinsic value of fengpino and at times it is worth considerably more than it should be when speculators take in large sums of this currency. Conversely, when they dump it back jon the market and coop in the big notes, the taiyuan woul] shew an The layman has always stuck to taiyuan, leaving fengpiao strictly alone, but, as a matter of fact, the two are closely connected, for what after all is the guarantee for feng piao but the taiyuan? The Chinese authorities having now commenced to curb the activities of speculatord Jand having at the same time begun to redeem the fengpino in instale ments, the taiyuan has gone down to its real current value which stands to-day at 918 yen to 100 taiyuan, The Fifty Millions Loan Will the rate go down further? In banking and commercial circles it is believed that it will. In the first place, there is Mill a very large sum to be redeemed by the Chinese authorities, who are floating a loan of $50,000,000 partly for the purpose of doing £0. But inasmuch ax not all of the money will be used for the redemption of fengpiao there will ways be the uncertainty of what is going to be done with the vurpluR, [Of course, in these times of internal distress, rumours of all kinds are disseminated by circles. with their own axeh to grind. Mpreaver, matter how vigilant the Chinese authorities may be in an effort to speculation, the—gambling. spirit can never be done away with, especially in China, Then, too, due to discrpanized transportation facilities, the lack of demand from abroad Ni and the political uncertainty in China, produce exports have considerably dec ix, of course, ments less forcige money Manchuria. The plight of is not an enviable one for they have been very badly hit. They are the Tnackbone of the Eastern Provinces s0 to sp and when stich an important section ix affected financially in an adverse way, It ought to be cagily seen how the ether section depending upon the fare for necessities are [likewise hampered.
AIL this tends to lessen Cie depas:
in native banks some of which are in rather a shaky position, Neadless ty say, merehante of all nationalities have been badly hit and the shops, in order to protect theme selves, have begun (o adopt the Jap= nese yen universally.
The Attack Towards Jehol The Chinese have an ext ordinary capacity for bearing mis. fortune. In Manchuria they would ask for nothing better than to be: quit of futile wars waged at their expense. But Gen, Wu's troops are concentrating at Tungliaohsien, the and this time directed againat terminus of the branch line ran-from westward from Chengebiatun towards the border of Tehol. Their objective is guid t0 be a march across the arid plains of northern Jehol in order to attack the teat of the First) Kuum'nchs Vividly describing the terfere such a march, a Fengtisn army for added the caustic com "The Chinese soldier ix a queer me dividual. He will undertake. euch hardships as these ap a ats Mex. $1.20 per month and ne into debt!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.