Nanking, May 8.
Commenting on Reuter's report of the statement of a Northern militarist's agent that the additional Customs Duties came in ai result of the enforcement of th National Tariff, "which Mr. T. V. Soong had found useful to pay troops and buy explosives with and that if Mr. Soong has. secured own loans on this tariff it was own look-out," Mr. Soong said:—
"The statement of the agent is refreshing, both because of its wilful blindness to recent events and its puerile disregard of national responsibilities. As I pointed out jin my statement last Friday, the major portion, in fact nine-tenths, of the loans secured on the additional revenue of the Customs were placed on the market when Yen Hsi-shan was a prominent member lof the Government and vice-commander-in-chief of the military forces, and both his own troops and those of the other associated militarists shared in the proceeds fof these loans. Tt was only last week that Yen Hsi-shan managed to secure a loan from Northen bankers with these same bonds as "If, as is likely, part of the proceeds of the loans have actually been used to pay troops and buy explosives which are being converted into munitions of war at. Taiyuanfu and Kunghsien, the pious attitude of protest struck by the agent of the Northern militarists is little less than ludicrous. But if the National Government needs any cause for declaring war on the militarists, the stand. it takes that it is no longer willing to pour out the people's treasures to pay blackmail to armed coolies furnishes sufficient cause indeed.
"Nothing is more illustrative of the cynical attitude of the rebels sumably for the transport of troops and by so doing have considerably disorganized the ordinary river' traffic.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.