Whether it is a part of the safer and saner trafic campaign, or when ther it is just a sudden determination vigorously to enforce regul: tions Which hitherto have been but spasmodically and indifferently en-foreed, the Police may rest assured that, the general public will stand solidly behind them in their present effort to clear beggars and unlicensed hawkers off the streets, especially such as The Bund and Nanking Road. For some days now it has een a common sight to see a fringe policemen skirmishing, amongst Investor makes a very good point his letter, published to-day, on the subject of the new Shanghai Municipal "Loan, by suggesting that the Joan is a currency and not a silver issue," The standard Chinese dollar not yet a token coin, because it bears a definite ratio to silver as a commodity, but there is no reason to believe' that that ratio will be maintained indefinitely, and the Council, if it were to' enter into obligations specifying Chinese standard dollars as coins having a tain silver content, might be rais~ ing @ loan the ultimate redemption of which would be costly in the extreme to the municipality, In the circumstances it is probably a wise precaution on the part of the Council ask for the loan merely in terms fof thie country's currency, if only for the reason that its income is in the same medium, Indeed it would be better for all' concerned if the doctrine of the acceptability of this country's legal tender adopted throughout the commercial life of this city. There are contracts being lightly entered into by residents for the rent of houses and apartments which provide for nothing but a commodity payment in silver, at present interpretable in terms of Standard dollars but, in the event of a depreciation of that dollar, Jonger so. Should depreciation' take place undoubted hardship will be {inflieted upon those who have signed such contracts, especially where their income is' in Chinese currency. That same consideration applies in the case of the municipal loan. Th Council's income being in dollars a very dificult situation would arise if it had contracted a loan in silver with the dollar at 71.50 and then had tore pay itali at, say, 61.50 the Council would have to refund to original" lenders of the $6,000,000 no less an additional sum than $1,500,000.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.