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Although full details cannot be published to-day, the news we print elsewhere of arrangements made by the Nationalist Government for regular payment on rvice of loans secured' on the Salt revenue may be regarded as authentic. These arrau; ments, we understand, are sati factory to all concerned and the stem to be adopted, while securing sufficient funds for all Joans except the Reorganization of 1913 (which is adequately served by the Customs) has been accepted by practically all the provinces. Thus, we may reasonably hope, the difficulties in connection with the Salt loans whic have prevailed during recent months have been overcome.
So far back as last November Nanking announced that it intended to reinstate the foreign directorate of the Gabelle, but nothing came of this until the end of last February, when a categorical statement was issued by Mr. T. V. Soong, Minister of Finance, that "the entire staff of the Salt Inspectorate, including the foreign personnel will be restored to their posi as employees of the Ministry of Finance," this being followed a week later by publication of the names and stations of the foreign collectors. The objection felt by the Chinese to having any particular revenue earmarked for a foreign loan, which the Ministry wished to meet by pledging itself to the service of the loan out of general' funds, raised the question of the Inspectorate's duty to bondholders under loan agreements, But this matter also has been adjusted, we believe, in a manner agreeable to both sides.
Eleventh hour disappointments are not anknown'in any country, but in the present instance we think they need not be dreaded: The conclusion come to appears in every way satisfactory and itiwill undoubtedly do much to enhance China's credit abroad.
It constitutes a definite and practical step which proverbially is worth any amount of argument.. Even if some provinces should at the last moment demur, though of that we-understand-no serious danger is expected, the fact that Nanking takes certain tangible measures in the region: under its control will have a great moral effect. This is a point we have repeatedly emphasized. Distraught as China has been by civil war and local sensibilities, no one expects Nan-King to be able to assert authority over such. vast-spaces in moment. What one would hope for is the steady introduction of reform and. reorganization i such districts ay Nanking can definitely control," and that, effected, must almost automatic cally extend further and further.
time. goes' on.' Not the least important part of the arrangements "made for the Salt loan: is"that they are an additional move towards the unification of finance which is the foundation /of every well ordered state.
Financial unification and control is a vital question in connection with the proposed seven-grade surtax schedule, of which Iso details are given to-day. It is strange that no official communication has yet been made on this matter, as, by all we can understand, the intention is to put the schedule into operation in the very near future and due warning is necessary, if only for the sake of goods in transit when the change is made, The reasonableness of this requirement is too evident for any great difficulty to be anticipated in respect of it. A more urgent consideration is that the seal of surtaxes which the foreign delegates suggested in 1926 carried with it a distinct understanding that abolition of irre: gular provincial levies must hand-in-hand with its application. Can this be guaranteed? Take the case of the 300 per cent. wine tax at Changsha, which we mentioned yesterday: obviously, wine, as a luxury, would be in the highest grade of surtax, -apparently twenty-two ind a halt per cent., the proportion of which due to the Hunanese authorities would look very small compared with what they expect to reap. The answer i of course, that exorbitant taxation simply kills trade and that it, would pay them far better to accept their share of a reasonable consolidated tax at the point of entry. But that is an economic fact which officials of the interior cannot easily be po suaded to grasp. It oes without saying that, from the point of view of all trade, Chinese as well as foreign, the consolidated tax is eminently desirable in limits, it is not so much a question of what the merchant. pays, as of knowing for certain what he will have to pay, The sooner the Nationalist Government can publish its proposed schedule the better for all business, which is visibly affected by the general uncertainties of the situation. But with such publication, assurance must be obtained that the new scale means effective consolidation, not merely an added charge. upon what was once a tremend= ously important commodity in China's export trade.
The incident, in brief, was this. Ninety-four policemen were seized with sudden illness and one of them died, Their ailment was variously diagnosed and ultimately ascribed to infected ham sandwiches. The matter became more and more puzzling inasmuch as an outbreak of para-typhoid was almost \coincident with this and subsequent cases of food-poisoning, unearthed by an eager press which, when all is said and done, is the greatest safeguard of the peo ple's interests.
'We are not concerned with any'
Jacademic -pronouncement as to whether the bacillus botulinns and- its allies, or whether, b.paratyphosus was responsible in the original incident cited. It is of interest to note that, in respect of the numerous cases para-typhoid, the infection was, ultimately traced to cream, This brings us immediately to the crux of the matter, namely, that ever since the Ministry of Health, in the plenitude of its wisdom, some two years ago, banned. all artificial preservatives of food on the ground that these are inimical to health, there has been one long succes~ sion of epidemics of food poisons ing, culminating in the recent outbreak of para-typhoid which is connected by many medical authorities with the preservative regulations. True, it required the illness of ninety-four police~ men and the death of one to focus the public's attention on the problem, and te recall that this was but one incident out of an alarming number in the past two years.
Twenty-two years ago, at the instigation of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, the United States enacted the Federal Pure Food and Drug laws which are in effect to-day, That President Roosevelt was not fully convinced.of their wisdom -is no beret. He caused a commission to be formed to inquire into Dr. Wiley's strictures. This com~ mission, composed of men of unquestioned professional standing and in no wise connected with the food industry, reported adversely on the majority of these strictures. Despite this, Congress passed the bill; and there is no question but that many abuses in respect of misbranding were thereby eliminate ed. As-to the benefit to the public health through the elimination of such preservatives as boric acid and benzoic acid, that is still a moot question and, at the moment, a vexatious one to the Ministry of Health at home.
That chemical preservatives of foods are inimical to health if ingested in certain quantities, is not in dispute. A diet of boric acid for instance, is not to be recommended, The point, however, is this: the quantities of these substances required to occlude deterioration of foods to within pathological limits is so small as to make their menace almost negligible. Many who are qualified to do so will dispute this assertion. They overlook the existence, in nature, of certain substances and in an amount greater than that ever dreamed of for artificial preservation of foods. A case in point is benzoic acid as found in the cranberry; and it is doubtful if there is a ingle case on record of benzoie-acid poisoning" from THE PRESERVATION eating cranberries.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.