Professor C. F, Romer, the noted expert in international trade, is to spend the year 1930-81 in China, Hel is coming on the Empress of Russia which will be at Shanghai on Sept. 5. In the course of the year he will visit the chief treaty ports of Chins [He expects to return via the Trans Siberian railway, and to visit a number of the important capitals Europe for the purpose of checking his results, Professor Romer is directing study of the international financial and economic relations of China which is being financed by the Social Science Research Council of New York He is working with an advisory committee of the Brookings Institution of Washing< ton, D. C. The proposal for the study was approved by the Social Science Research Council during the summer of 1928, and about two years of, work have alrendy been devoted to 'AS a result of this investigation, the Institute of Pacite its conference in Kyoto, Jay gave the subject of Foreign Investments in China a place on its prog, which inclided the following::"Foreign Investments in China", by, D.K. Liew, "British Investments in China,"' by a committee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), "French and German Investments in China", by Howard Ellis, of the University of Michigan, "American Investments in China," by C.F. Romer of the University of Michigan, An important part of this total consists in the foreign debt of the wese Government. This. is of the subjects to which Profe Kemmerer of Princeton and colleagues on the Kemmerer Ca mission have given attention during As a result of Pr 's work, a satisfac tory total of the foreign indebtedness of the Chinese Government can probably be arrived at 'One of the results of Professor Remer's study has been to show, that the direct ment of for= ign business firms in China is muck' greater than foreign loans to the Chinese Government. Tt will probably be shown to be a number of times greater, These direct foreign investments have never been si factorily estimated, The estimation of them is an important and diffi. cult part of the present study, It is plain that no satisfactory con clusion touching the place of foreign investments, and the income from them, in the financial relation of China with other ecuntrios can be made without the inclusion of the direct investments of foreign firms.
Another important aspect of the present study involves the consequences of these foreign investments China's international relations and in the economic, political, and social life of the Chinese. Professor Romer hopes to deal with the econ-amic consequences of the system of treaty ports and extraterritoriality, in China, and with the economic factors in the disintegration of traditional China, Since the present National Gov. ernment of China came into power October, 1928, there has been practically' no public borrowing abroad, It is probably true, also, that the direct, investment of for-ign firms in China has fallen off somewhat. This condition is likely to change, and a new period, of borrowing and investment may begin in the near future, Professor Remer's investigation may provide a broad survey of conditions at beginning of the new period.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.