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Independent Opinions.
As an outside view of the matter, the American account may next be considered. This account substantially bears out the Chinese statement.
Mr. Palen, the Commissioner of Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs, who is an American, lays great stress on the outrageous behaviour of the Japanese in expropriating the Chinese from their land by force majeure, and estimates that the value of the land could not possibly be less than 60 taels per mow.
He is vehemently anti-Japanese in his opinions, and expresses the wish that by making a public expose of the conduct of the Japanese in this matter he may render his position here untenable and make his removal to another post a necessity.
The American Vice-Consul, Mr. Arnell, also adopts an anti-Japanese standpoint, and strongly supports the Chinese side of the case.
A member of the Danish Lutheran Mission, who is an old resident here, informed me that he believed there was much truth in the Chinese version of the case, but that the case against the Japanese had been much exaggerated.
He quoted a case of one of his converts who had been expropriated from his house by the Japanese. The Japanese had compensated him at a rate of 14 yen per "chien" (room), and he considered the actual value of a "chien" to be some 60 yen. The man in question owned twenty "chien."
Present Situation and Comments.
The present actual position of affairs is that the Japanese have actually established themselves quite securely in their Settlement, with well-made roads laid out at convenient distances in each direction, the whole Settlement being surrounded by a moat and a rampart to keep out the summer floods.
The Settlement bears the appearance of many a small town in the interior of Japan. The houses are constructed of wood in the usual Japanese style. The Japanese shopkeepers have the usual style of small shop, where all kinds of Japanese commodities can be obtained. There is, it is true, a large amount of the Settlement given over to the gambling-houses and opium dens (euphemistically called tea-houses) and houses of ill-fame, but this appears to me to reflect chiefly on the class of Japanese who are settling here, who are undoubtedly not the better class, but the kind one would naturally expect to find in a country which has only lately been devastated by a great war—the class of adventurers who naturally follow in the wake of a conquering army.
The better military element having been withdrawn, it was natural that the lower elements should for the time gain the upper hand, and the Japanese officials are beginning to realize that such a foundation for a Settlement is not one which is likely to conduce to prosperity.
So far as the Settlement is concerned, the Chinese will of course be compelled in the long run to recognize it; but they are hoping at present to enlist foreign sympathy and to endeavour thereby to obtain a righting of certain wrongs which they have undoubtedly sustained in the upset of the normal condition of things which followed as a natural result of the war.
The American Commissioner of Customs and the American Vice-Consul in Antung are inclined, I think, to make the most of the case against the Japanese and by fanning the flame of Chinese resentment to aggravate the state of affairs.
It appears to me highly probable that the Magistrate Kao did accede to the terms of the Japanese in acquiring the Settlement, and whether he did so from force of circumstances or from the fact that he was in collusion with the Japanese is a matter in which there is some room for doubt.
It is certainly true that certain Chinese officials have not failed to fill their pockets at the time when the pockets of their own countrymen were being emptied by the Japanese, and under these circumstances, and as they made no apparent stand against the Japanese at the time of the supposed acts of aggression, it seems to be rather a poor step on their part to try to enlist foreign sympathy at this hour.
Briefly put, if, as I believe to be true, the Japanese did not mete out fair measure to the Chinese whom they expropriated, it was, I am inclined to think, in no small measure due to the laxity of the Chinese officials, who failed to take up a sufficiently strong attitude, and who were not above enriching themselves from the despoilers of their countrymen; but one cannot excuse the Japanese for their conduct on this account, though I think that circumstances are combining at the present moment to make the case of the Japanese appear in a much worse light than it really deserves.
W. P. M. RUSSELL.
Antung, December 16, 1907.
(Signed)
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Statement of Wang Lien Tung (annexed to Report on Japanese Land Tenure at Antung).
(Confidential.) (Translation.)
THE petitioner, Wang Lien Tung, a resident of Liutaokou, Antung, begs to solicit your kindness for a careful investigation into the details of a case which involves the violation of international law and the wilful giving of maltreatment, with a view to effecting a change for the better and the relief of the people from distress.
In the 1st year of the reign of Kuang Hsü (1874), when the land at Tung Pien, on the eastern frontier of Manchuria, was thrown open to cultivation, the father of the petitioner, accompanied by his wife and children, together with their belongings, packed in boxes and baskets, came to Liutaokou, Antung. There they built holes for dwellings and satisfied themselves with chaff. By exposing themselves to the weather, both hot and cold, and by means of constant planning and working, they were able to cultivate and hand down to their descendants a few mow (one-sixth of an acre) of land. Who foresaw that the petitioner's natal day had been ill-starred?
For unexpectedly, in the 30th year of Kuang Hsu (1904), Japan and Russia opened hostilities, and the land in his possession was devastated by the troops of the two belligerents one after the other.
It was in the 31st year that the Japanese put out wooden stakes over all the land at Liutaokou, and that, by the order of Mr. Kao, the Antung Magistrate, the title-deeds were produced for inspection and a survey of the land made by the Magistrate's subordinates. The object of this survey was unknown until the 8th moon of the same year, when the Japanese authorities, swayed by a strong passion of covetousness, demanded through the Magistrate the delivery of the title-deeds to the land and summoned the owners to appear before them.
The petitioner and other landowners lost no time in presenting themselves at the Military Administration Office to answer questions. In reply to their demands, we stated that a transfer of land, amounting to 10,000 mow (1,666 acres), from one country to another was an international affair of great importance, and one which the common people could not venture to make without the authority of their officials. The Japanese were angered at this statement, and they arrested the petitioner and others—four in all—and kept us in custody. We were tried several times a day, and were finally compelled to agree to sell the land and to sign the Agreement. We were also held responsible for the refusal of other owners to sell their land. The cause of our refusal was alleged to be our having been in league with the Russians. If we had persisted in our determination, we should have been compelled to confess to conspiracy with the Russians.
It was clear that the Japanese coveted the land and disregarded the rights of the petitioner and other owners, and that, if we refused to agree to their terms, we should certainly be put to death. We were thus reduced to this humiliating means of saving our lives, and silently wept as we signed the Agreement concluding the matter. Following this, the Japanese had other landowners arrested and locked up in a dark room, where they were also compelled to sign over their deeds in the same manner. A woman's signature was obtained in case the male members of the family were absent, and a servant was made to sign for his master were he away. The lamentations of the people—men and women, old and young—which continued at Liutaokou for several days, is beyond description.
The most pitiful part of the affair was that land whose market price varied between 300 and 400 taels per tien (1 acre) was taken at from 42 to 84 dollars. The common people were perfectly aware that they had suffered a great loss, but, owing to the harsh and cruel treatment they had frequently received from the Japanese...
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