Apr. 20.
The Die-Hard Victory 'The Chinese are not really too excited about the Die-Hard Vic~ tory at the Ratepayers' Meeting because most of them realize that foreign policy is not diehard and that the leading foreigners in Shanghai are not die~ hard and that the apparent: aberration at the Ratepayers. Meeting was due to some fortuitous concatenation of circum= stances, feng shui, perhaps, the heavy rains of April or the epidemic of influenza and that it will all be righted before Jong. That there is a bitter element in the foreign commun ity, no one can deny: bitter because of the certainty of change 5 because of the effect that that change may have upon personal interests; bitter at not having been consulted and con sidered by those who manage the negotiations for change, Much of their bitterness is quite justified, because there can be little ince the return of Marshal Feng Yuhsiang to Tungkuan from Shansi, the Kuominchun forees have becurl actively moving troops eastward along the Lunghai Rail It is no exageeration to say that the Kuominchun are in the highest spirits just now. Already, over 140,000 soldiers have been moved east of] Tungkuan, while the entire Kuomin chun are numbered some 200,000. These troops are fully equipped and perfectly disciplined military. units."
Arms and provisions also are reaching the Kuominchun from General Yen Hsi-shan. But when ther they are to attack along the Long-Hai, or southwards in the hope of gaining Hankow, is a matter of speculation. Both ides have been mancuvring strenuously to get the support of Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang. of Manchuria. But all human probability points to his remain ing neutral. Manchuria has nothing whatever to gain by nixing itself up in the quarrels of the Eighteen Provinces. The Navy is understood to be holding Tsingtao firmly for Nanking. But, in passing, if Sir Miles Lampson sigs the agreement for tne rendition of Weihaivei to the tactlessness and inadequate capacity of both official and unofficial negotia~ tors. And the resort to secret diplomacy, Jong digeredited throughout the world, has an-agonized every self-respecting person in the foreign community, just as it has been the cause for irritation and misunderstanding among the Chinese, Nevertheless, all purposes are identical, even' if the methods adopted vary. The underlining: purpose of Sino-foreign contact at the moment is to restore fully friendship and harmony, so that business might the done without the constant irritant, of political differences. This formula become the guide of the prin-ipal foreign Powers, the leadings business. houses' and the most influential individuals, The entire foreign press of China is dedicated to that aim. then matters it, whether the methods adopted by officials are brilliant or stupid, secret or open, heroic or st, me, as long as the end desired is reached? The foreigners come here to trade and the trader adjusts himself everywhere to any circumstances he finds. His task is to buy and sell goods, to invest his money, to create industries and to benefit by the increased increment, which comes from additional trade arising froma higher standard of living. He managed to pursue trade when Mr. Dent was sent from Canton in a cage; he managed to trade when the Legations issued orders to the Peking mandarinate; he managed to trade during the Tuchuns wars; he somehow kept it going during the Communist revolution and he is doing as_nicely as might be expected in this period of transition. He will undoubtedly reinvest his profits in China, as he always has done, aiter the readjustment, no mat~ ter whether conditions are bet ter or worse. And as the trader must readjust, he usually trict to do it so gracefully that his customers are delighted—with him and trade with him as a friend, That is principle and wisdom, although idealistic foreigners, who are not traders but who belong to what the Communists might call the White-collared proletariat, must regard it a8 materialistic' saerifice of all that is holy and noble. Unfortunately, the White-collared people do not always understand the problems of the merchant: their income arises in fees and commissions; they are not so dependent on good-will because their customers are for eigners. They live of the for eign community, whereas the merchant has to find a constructed basis for creating commerce with the people of China. 'The lawyer, the broker, the Journalist, the insurance agent and men of what might be termed the professional classes, do not always see eye to eye with the merchant, the manufacturer, the shipper, the banker, because the latter know that' an un= friendly market means a los, while the former are always on good terms with their foreign clients.
It is that, more than anything, which represents the conflict of opinion within the foreign community, although it must be pointed out that the entire foreign press, including all the so-called banned newspapers, have supported the Municipal Council in its resolution of friendship towards the Chinese residents of Shanghai, The professional classes find that Chinese are replacing them and that the more concessions that are made to the Chinese, the more difficult it becomes for them to survive here, just as in Japan, after the abolition.of extraterritoriality, the foreign professional classes disappeared although foreign trade increased. There is another conflict of opinion in the foreign community arising from what may be termed the huge vested interests and the small foreigner whose total wealth is invested in a single interest in Shanghai which might be wiped out by some tactical stupidity on the part of foreign officialdom or by some ill considered act of Chinese officialdom. The huge foreign vested interests, bringing cheap, income tax free money to Shanghai, invest ing millions in property and industry," can afford to take chances" because their tan sible assets will be proc tected by their Governments no matter what changes are wrought here. Their property is part of the national wealth of the countries of which they are citizens—so much a part that much would be done to save it from unjust and unreasonable treatment. But the small man has witnessed. the decapitation of his confreres in Hankow, Nanking and Chinkiang and he feels. that he is about to be completely annihilated in Shanghai, He therefore has roused himself to rebel against the trustification of foreign interests here
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.