"This leads me to the question of Canton. The report of the landing of foreign troops to prevent the seizing "of the Canton Customs by Dr. Sun (there is no truth in this report, of course.—Ed.) is to my mind tantamount to the Powers landing an international force to support Tsao Kun against Sun Yat-sen, Now, some Chinese want Tsao as president, and some may want Sun or some other man. If the Powers want Tsao as President why don't they tell Tsao to prevent Sun from seizing the Customs. It is a President's business to maintain the government's authority. If Tsao can't do that, why recognize him? It seems foolish for the Powers to recognize Tsao when his own immediate followers don't obey him. Tsao Kun issued a mandate to abolish illegal taxes, for instance, but immediately Honan and Kiangsw, in which Wu Pei-fu and Chi Usieh-yuan, Tsao Kaun's strongest followers, are warlords, introduce illegal taxes. If they Powers support him? If Sun is disobey Tsao, why should the to be called to order, why not Tsao?
"The Chinese themselves worry little about the scenes staged either in Peking or Canton. Nobody takes Peking seriously but the diplomats and just so long as the diplomats take Peking seriously a government will exist there of the character of the present one. Indirectly, the Powers are responsible for the violation of treaties, for if they took a strong and united stand on the question, violations would cease. It would be an easy matter 1 refund those who suffered because of illegal taxation in Kianysn and Chékiamg as well as' other provinces, if the Powers added an extra tax on all goods passing through the Shanghai Customs to and from these provinees. This 1s simpler than landing troops and costs less. The merchants of the provinces would then -nake $9 much noise—after their pocketbooks were hit—that the Tuchuns would go sooner than is now anticipated and the foreigners would be better off fcr it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.