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THE CHINA
CRITIC
March 13, 1930
March 13, 1930
THE CHINA CRITIC
251
and commerce will be seriously handicapped, and the livelihood of the people will be effected.
It is estimated that the Ministry of War now owes the Ministry of Railways about $12,930,000 for subsidies paid to various army groups and $3,250,000 for military transportation charges within a period of slightly over a year. The Ministry of Railways has sent a bill to the War Department, but the bill remains unpaid.
It will be recalled that at the Second Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang it was decided to appropriate two-thirds of the entire Boxer-Indemnity Funds for railway construction in China. Sometime ago a petition was presented to the Administrative Yuan of the National Government sug- gesting that two-thirds of the Sino-British, Sino-Russian, and Sino-Italian Boxer Indemnity Funds be first ap- propriated to the Ministry of Railways for the comple- tion of Canton-Hankow, Lunghai and other lines. If negotiations with the British and Italian Governments had not been completed, it was further suggested that two-thirds of the Sino-Russian Indemnity Funds be handed over to the Railway Ministry. It has been dis- covered that the Peiping Universities continue to get $350,000 each month from the Sino-Russian Boxer-In- demnity Funds. As it has been decided by the National Government that the Sino-Russian Indemnity Funds shall be used for the completion of the Lunghai Railway, there will be no funds left for the railway construction, unless the Peiping Universities get their funds from some other source,
As the preliminary part of the Ministry's railway construction program, a number of men have been sent out to do surveying work in different provinces. The men assigned on the proposed Nanking-Canton line have been unable to do any work in Kwangtung and Fukien Provinces on account of bandit activities. Military operations in Kwangsi, Kweichow, and Yunnan provinces have also interfered with the work of the Ministry's staff. Mr. Chao Ya-chen, (E) an expert of the Ministry, was killed last December by bandits at Ta Kuang, (A) in Kweichow Province.
The debts of the railways run up to a stupendous total of $559,000,000. The loan agreements with various parties differ and unless steps are taken to reorganize the railway debts, the actual financial condition of the country's railways cannot be ascertained. The creditors repeatedly go to the Ministry of Railways and ask for information regarding the payment of these debts. As the prestige of any government is largely determined by its ability or otherwise to meet its obligations, it is of great importance that the National Government should devise some means for the reorganization of the country's debts.
as the
The Kiao-Tai Railway, popularly known Shantung Railway, has to pay $40,000,000 (Yen) to the Japanese Government within a period of 15 years, begin. ning from January 1, 1923. For seven years the railway
has paid up regularly the annual interest of $2,400,000′′ (Yen), but the principal remains unpaid. Before 1938, China must pay up that amount, and so far nothing has been done towards meeting this obligation. The only thing the Kiao-Tsi Railway can do will be that of cutting down its expenses and of setting aside every year a certain amount of money for that purpose.
Transportation undoubtedly has a lot to do with the development of a country's industries and commerce. While the railways want to increase their revenues, they must in the meantime take into consideration the busi- ness condition along the lines. Steps ought to be taken to facilitate the distribution of food stuffs throughout the country and to encourage the development of native industries, so that severe famines in certain parts of the country can be prevented and the native commercial interests may compete on even terms with foreign busi-
ness concerns,
Measures have been adopted for the taking over by the government of the Canton-Hankow Railway. This line was formerly financed by private interests with a capital of approximately $20,000,000. The Ministry of Railways recently submitted a proposal to the National Government suggesting that $20,000,000 worth of bonds be floated using the revenues of Canton-Shaokwan and Canton-Sahshui sections of the Canton-Hankow Railway as securities. The proposal was approved by the Nation- al Government. The regulations governing the issuance of these bonds were promulgated by the Ministry of Railways on January 1, 1930. Beginning from April 1, 1930, the proposed bonds will be issued by the Ministry.
In spite of the unsettled conditions throughout the country, the following reports regarding the revenues for 1929-30 of various railways may prove interesting:
Increase over 1928-9 Revenues $6,143,000
Tientsin-Pukow Railway Nanking-Shanghai Railway S. H. N. Railway Chengtai Railway Kiao-Tsi Railway Lunghai Railway Hunan-Hupeh Railway Canton-Kowloon Railway
$10,315,000 $12,328,000
$5,959,000
$5,134,000
$2,153,000 $447,000 $1,075,000
$12,569,000
$1,811,000
$1,959,000
$535,000
$1,213,000
$211,000
$705,000 $610,000
The Pei-Ning Railway, formerly known as the Pe- king Mukden Railway, has been instructed to conclude a contract with the Netherlands Harbor Works Company of Amsterdam, Holland, for the development of the Port of Hulutao. Actual engineering work is to start this year as soon as weather permits.
Mukden is situated like the hub of a wheel, where a great deal of traffic must pass through. The distance from Mukden to Hulutao is 186 miles, and the distance from Mukden to Dairen is 246 miles. After careful study by experts, Hulutao has been regarded as a natural outlet to the sea for Manchuria and Inner-Mongolia. A proper port development at this place and a consistent rail
Tevelopment of the Three Eastern Provinces must create an enormous traffic for shipment through Hulutao.
Railway development. unlike the activities of most of the other departments of the Government, is a profit making proposition. Not only it brings larger revenues to the Government treasury, it represents one of the most important factors in the improvement of the economic condition of any country, and in the promotion of general welfare. The later the Government carries out its rail
way construction program, the greater difficulty it will have in its attempt to bring prosperity to the undevelop- ed regions in far off provinces.
The existing railways can never be run on a busi- ness basis, if the local military authorities are permitted to interfere with the administration of these lines. Drastic measures must be taken by the Central Govern- ment for the suppression of such irregular activities The road is difficult but it is not impossible.
Attitudes Toward China
By Hugh McL. Gilmore
The new and more orderly regime in China is re- garded by most foreigners with disfavour. The reason is simple. Great changes have taken place abroad, younger countries have acted energetically and with vision to expedite cconomic and other "progress." Chi- nese efforts to effect rehabilitation of her scattered for- tunes seem, they think, in comparison, futile and ill- directed.
To a certain extent this attitude is excusable. For- eign critics of an Eastern country, who belong to a total- ly different order of civilisation from those whose weak- ness they would appraise, cannot keep their minds free from purely national bias of the unreasoning sort; they naturally search for such attributes as are prized among themselves and feel disgusted if these are not in evidence, The result is they see specific faults too plainly while overlooking the very qualities on which greatness is mainly based. China, therefore, has suffered extremely from the stupidity, misstatement, and misrepresentation. from the lack of sympathy and generosity, and princi- pally from the pure ignorance of her critics.
In the West Might connotes Right. Western re- venues, accordingly, are spent on war, past and to come, and only the residue on useful objects. The people are, have been, and always will be loaded with taxation for the construction of guns, battleships, poisonous gases and aeroplanes for the purpose of killing each other whole sale.
Until comparatively recently China had none of these things. Ergo, China is uncivilised, unworthy of con- sideration. The west, enforced by those selfsame arma- ments and gases, calls for "law and order" in a country whose efforts to enforce "law and order" are hindered by Western pugnacity.
China unfortunately is unable to offset the insinua- tions of these more pugnacious nations in the only way which they understand and appreciate. She believes in a progress of her own definition. Her belief is fortified by daily illustration of how the West protects "progress" with battleships and bluff and frames its ideals, not ac cording to the measure of its altruism, but according to
the measure of its ambitions. Hence, China has adopted, mistakenly it is true, a conversational attitude, thinking that constant iteration of her requirements would find a receptive ear.
But iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat rather than progress. This has happened in China, Unfamiliar with the intrigue which for centuries has supported Occidental diplomacy, her statesmen have more or less relied upon the "honourable obligations" of the West; they have spoken when they should have acted, reposed confidence where confidence is adjudged an indication of weakness. "Honourable obligations," of hypocrisy. Iteration of such "obligations" has en- unknown to them, have long been buried under a pall gendered naivete and helped to cloud the issue where a little judicious action would have induced favourable consideration of inherent rights.
It does not logically follow that China to attain her rights should similarly put bloodshed and blood lust before civilisation. The world, happily, is awakening to a realisation of the futility of war and warlike methods and is in a fit state now, after centuries of morbid hate, to recognise that seeds of death planted in a loam of artificial hate have thrust their black heads above the earth all too often. Aggression is receding before world reason. China, accordingly, should so plan her future so that the surfeit of speech which hitherto has hamper- ed her striving after autonomy should be abandoned in favour of pre-conceived and practical action, Speech, as a famous diplomat tells us, is after all but a form of innocuous gas. This innocuity, in China at least, has served to "Make men lose the good they oft might win by fearing to attempt."
It is strange that no effort has been made to put the proper interpretation on the chief Western argument against Chinese autonomy, the lack of "law and order." It is stranger still that no native statesman has express- ed its true meaning. While banditry and disorder exist in every country in the world, China has been singled out for obloquy on that very count. It is natural that disorder in a country of 400,000,000 souls, hampered by foreign jurisdiction, should be greater than in a country of 40,000,000 free from alien restrictions.
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