In Tientsin, anyhow, there has been no letting-up of the anti-British movement, The world has apparently become so used to the "blockade" of the British Concession, that one hears little about it these days. But actually, though stripping and face-slapping are no longer the order of the day, the searchings, delays and other petty annoyances inflicted on all those who wish to pass the barriers are just as bad as ever. This would appear to have quite a definite and localized reason. For the restrictions on the entry to and exit from the British and French Concessions in Tientsin have now become nothing more nor less than a very profitable "racket," to use a modern American term, It is said that the Police at the barriers collect as much as $10,000 a day (some estimate as much as $50,000.) from Chinese and from their vehicles, entering or leaving the Concessions.
Every Chinese trying to pass the barriers is charged a few cents; those was bringing in vegetables or other foodstuffs as much as $1 a time; and the more a person is willing to pay, the quicker he is allowed through. When one such Chinese was being searched in the "inspection shed" one of the Chinese constables asked him rather naively, how much he had paid before he was allowed in, adding "We have fo keep a check on the amounts collected outside,'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.