There were other minor complaints, but these are the main charges. And in the course of certain private meetings with leaders of the foreign communities the Japanese are said to have hinted that unless they were granted joint police control in the Concessions, the silver reserves were handed over to them, and the Federal Reserve notes recognized as the official currency, they would sooner or later be forced to take steps to bring the Concessions to heel. Against this it is argued that, in the matter of the guerrilla leaders, possibly such are taking shelter in the Concessions, but that the authorities have been steadily suppressing all anti-Japanese activities, and that if such men were really engaged in any active work they would at once be discovered and arrested, As to the silver reserves, it is pointed out that it is impossible for the Concession authorities to seize, or allow the seizure of, property belonging to the still legally recognized government of China. While the reply of the banks is quite simple: "Business is business. If the Federal Reserve Bank itself were prepared to sell foreign exchange against its notes, we would be quite ready to do the same." In one minor point a concession has been made, for the Tientsin British Municipal Council now accepts F. R. B. notes in payment of all legal dues. But whether the joint police control could abe adr.itted is another question.
Then there is the campaign against foreign newspapers. In August last, just at the time of the orders for the evacuation of the Concessions, but before the paper had made any comment whatever on the subject, the British-owned "Peking & Tientsin Times" was refused transmission through the Chinese post, and its sale forbidden outside the two Concessions. No reason was ever vouchsafed for this ban, and up to date all protests have been ignored. But it was undoubtedly part of the plan, not only to suppress all means of criticism but also to prevent or at least make it difficult for any unfavourable news to get to the ears of the Chinese or Japanese public. And this surmise is confirmed by the fact that other foreign newspapers, even such which are never critical of the Japanese, are not delivered to Chinese or Japanese addresses. And it is certainly not a mere accident that all foreign newspapers in general, that are published in China, are these days hindered and delayed in transmission.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.