My friends, things have not been changed very much. Ask Yi fshung-ling, who was released 01 December 97 last from the custody of the Shun Pan-ting where he had been illegally detained for some months after having been decoyed out of the Settlements. Ask Mr.
Vu whether or not he was glad he had paid his taxes when he found that Consuls and Ministers, whose salaries are paid by foreigners, and the members of the Council, who are not paid at all, weve fighting for his release because he had done so. Mr. Chow Whuen-yung who was lured into the Native City, arrested and finally released as result of the value of Council representations, what he thinks of the value of tax-paying.
You ask me what I mean by "protection" and I reply by another question, "Why do so many wealthy Chinese live within the Settlement boundaries and enjoy their wealth freely and fearlessly?"
And if it be argued that a part of the tax-money is spent on gardens for the use of foreigners only, the answer is that you do not use the garden made for you, and, moreover, that a large part of the tax-money is spent on the upkeep of police and volunteers, whereas few of the former and none of the latter would be required if there were no Chinese.
Tais Picrvre any Tuar, I will lead a stranger out of the Settlement into the surrounding districts and he will be able to tell me the point at which we crossed the boundary. He will notice that the roads are not so well kept nor so clean, that the traffic is not so well managed, nor the wayfarers so well protected, that the lighting is not so well arranged. The conditions of thing just across our borders la Chapei is scandalous. First set your own house in order, my friends, and then we shall be glad of your advice in ordering ours.
We foreigners are managers this hotel and if you choose to live in it, thereby receiving great benefits, you must conform to the rules of the hotel. As in other hotels, the guests have the right to make suggestions and the managers will welcome the Advisory Committee at the Ratepayers' Meeting for that reason; but give the guests the control of the hotel which we have made by years of patient labour on the miserable swamp land originally allotted to us, that, my friends, is a thing which we will not do, and a thing which you have no right to ask.
Lam, ete., Shanghai, April 3.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.