For nearly 25 years the government of the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone has been in the hands of the Russians who established their own courts, administered justice according to Russian law, invested a great deal in property and commerce, established schools of all grades and built up prosperous communities' in which the Chinese and all others thrived, as they inevitably do in the Orient whea protected from Oriental maladministration of justice. The Russian administration was not perfect perhaps, but the zone attracted trade and wealth and promoted Chinese business on a large scale just as the Treaty Ports do throughout China. Then when the impotency of Russia in China became apparent and Russian political turmoil on Chinese soil gave warrant for interference the Chinese authorities took over the administration of the railway zone in M Subsequently Peking gained fresh courage and by a presidential mandate of Septem-1920, recognition of the authority of the Russian diplomatic and consular officials was withdrawn and in rapid succession all Russian institutions were eagerly taken over by the Chinese and have since been administered by them. Whether or not the Chinese were justified in taking these steps is no part of this discussion, the object of this and subsequent articles being to prove that whatever China's
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