There are two bright spots in this otherwise gloomy picture. The first is that the Maritume Customs collection for 1922 has beaten all previous records, thus showing once more a vitality of trade which seems to be proof against all the forces of anarchy and misgovernment. No doubt the business has changed in character, and much of it that formerly passed through the hands of foreigners is now transacted by the Chinese themselves. but as to the steady increase in the general volume of foreign trade the Customs figures leave no room for doubt.
Proof of the growing commercial activity of the higher classes of Chinese who are sick of the pre carious fortunes of an official career, is to be seen in the numerous mills and factories which are springing up throughout the country.
The other encouraging feature to which I refer, is the increasing interest taken in politics and the affairs of the Government by the Chinese Chambers of Commerce, and their marked determination to make their voices heard.—We hardly take up a paper without reading reports of resolutions urging disbandment of troops, or cond: li the extortions of the Tuchuns and the extravagance of the Government. So long as he can trade peacefully, the Chinese merchant takes little interest in politics or changes of Government, When, however, as would now seem, he realizes that the country, and with it his own prospects of increased profitable trading, are in danger of being brought to ruin by the folly of his rulers, he is moved to utter a protest, for the expression of which the facilities of the modern Chinese press offer him a channel not formerly available. It is this great body of Chinese commercial opinion and vested interests, aided by modern facilities for publicity, which will I believe prove to be the force of the immediate future. I hope it will by its insistence, secure the reforms which it is our earnest desire to see, and which, although they may be assisted from without, must be urged and created from within.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.