April 26, It is a pity that valedictions: have to come last, Many of our Chinese readers may not get as far as Mr. E, F. Mackay's closing paragraph at the China Assoc tion meeting and may thus mii the genuine feeling of his appeal to them as "a people of fine character, of great industry and, in his experience, of a kind-lines of heart equalled by few nations in the world." It. is possible that the Chinese may. not agree with Mr, Mackay's remedies for their present nati al misfortunes. They may en not think that the Tuchuns per nonoily are so much to blame as the world commonly holds them. In these columns it has often been suggested that many! Tuchuns are sincerely anxious: to govern well and are quite and the fact is patent that, whereas in 1921 the Powers met {together and agreed on a com: mon line of policy towards China, they have not upheld that unity of action in any single, serious particular.
It is also to be el served that by their weakness: land vacillation, they are hasten-jing on that very thing which {they are most anxious to avert.
Powers during the past four or: The supine acceptance by the live years of China's persistent, flagrant violations of international codes of morality, has {taught the Chinese politician to believe that he can flout them as he pleas There is every prospect that one day he will go too far. There is orions danger that the internal intrigues and cou!
inter-manceuvrings, active ly ai ited as they are by Bolshevik Ri la, wil culminate in an explosion in which numbers of for igners in the interior might per ish. If that happens, woul Id the Powers be able to refuse to intervene?
Tt seems to be thought that they cannot do so Jbecause of the many points at which action would have to be taken, But, with China's huge river system, this is a delusion Intervention by force of arms would certainly be a bigger undertaking than it was in 1900; but if the present madness of Young China ends in another Joutbreak like that of the Boxer [Best of disappointed and dis. gruntled men who plot against the government in the fond hope that, if things were turned upside' down, they, who are now at! ithe bottom, would, by a lucky chance, find themselves on top. and be in the happy position lof squeezers instead of remain-jing amongst the unfortunates [who are, and are to be, squeezed.
The politicians in the capital spend their time in devising paper constitution: which are, Jat least, as good as any produced in any other land but the administrators in the provinces are engaged in the more lucrative occupation of devising new methods of taxation.
In Canton graves are to be taxed, in [Shanghai rice, and on the borders of Tibet tea. In other places other commodities come. under the tariff and the more necessary the article is to the daily life of tne people the better it is from the standpoint' jof those whose only care is to secure the largest possible revenue irrespective of the welfare of the taxpayers.
Railways jate monopolized by the military 180 that trad stopped and the equipment of the lines and the roadbed rapidly are deteriorating. There is no money to expend on of the rivers and vast areas e in imminent danger of depopulation by floods. The International Famine Relief Commission has 32,000 people working on famine relief and flood prevention.
Throughout the length and breath of the land there exists a kind of [rights of the individual, But it is possible that the meshes of our Western' code are too large, 30 that those who have guilty knowledge of the acts and haunts of the criminals in our midst jean not be compelled to divulge ithe information that would lead to their arrest. If the law-abiding Chinese would combine for mutual protection against rob: bers with the same zeal as those pests combine for mutual offence against the public, the Problem of ridding the Settle ment of this form of crime would be solved in a week,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.