July 11, 1904.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. themselves with the larger aspect of the question in its relation to the general policy of the State.
unite with Japan, who could foresee the re- sult? To this there are two answers. First, there is so little affinity between China and Japan in race or otherwise that a conjunc- The tobacco growers who already complain tion of the two can scarcely be looked upon of the deplorable condition of the tobacco as within the bounds of the possible. Both, growing industry declare that the taxation it is true, live in the east of Asia; both which will soon now be imposed will have possess a little yellow pigment in their com - the effect of destroying the cigar and plexions. Besides, their ethnology and cigarette industry. The brewing industry their culture at all epochs mark them out are alarmed at the danger of imported beer as races as distinct from one another as capturing the market in the islands on either from the western European type. account of the domestic product being sub- The Japanese it was who, in the thirteenth ject to the internal revenue tax, while the century, drove back on Europe the Mongol imported beers will not be required to pay hordes, and the memory of their achieve anything beyond the Customs tax. Even ments then it is that steels them in their as it is there has been a very large increase present contest with Russia. The Chinese in the importation of Japanese beers into have no such achievement to their credit, the Islands, while the output of the home and at all times have preferred to gain their brewery had fallen off. The new law is stated ends by diplomacy rather than by force of to have been largely modelled on the arnis. A raid like that of JENGHIZ KHAN, Internal Revenue Tax Law of the United even at their time of greatest power, has States, and it has been pointed out that never entered into the heart of a Chinese while in the United States a barrel of heer leader to conceive. Even JENGHIZ KHAN'S containing thirty-one gallons paid an in- army, though at the time he owned sway ternal revenue tax of one dollar, beer over a large part of Northern China, was not manufactured in the Philippines would be inaterially swelled by any Chinese intermix-required under the new law to pay two ture in its ranks. So much for the likeli- dollars and thirty-four cents on thirty-one hood of a Chinese inroad; which would be, gallons. One of the Commissioners replied moreover, quite contrary to all the experi- that in the United States beer was sold for ence of history.
five cents per glass and that the glass sold contained about twice as much as in the Philippines; so, considering the amount sold and the price paid (beer selling in the Philippines for ten cents gold) the beer in the United States could be purchased about four times cheaper than in the Philippines. The answer was again made that the cost of production should enter into the consi- deration. The representative of the San Miguel brewery further stated that if the prosed bill became law it might be possi- ble for either Japanese beer or United States beer to capture the market as it did not cost
!
Even yet there remains the greatest of the difficulties in the advance of any force from Eastern Asia to Europe, and that is its physical impossibility under modern con- ditions; and here we do not only allude to the difficulties arising from the military superiority of the West, but rather to the physical difficulties of the journey. We have sketched out the depopulation of the continent, and shown it to depend on the ruodern deterioration of the land to a degree beyond human alleviation. If it were pos. sible to replant the entire of the continent, and restore its lost population, there is still the difficulty of the climate, which would effectually prevent the movement of troops in any number.
The difficulties staring Russia in the face after years of possession and preparation are but trifles to what a modern army would meet on its way from Eastern to Western Asia. The Yellow Terror is not a thing to seriously trouble the present generation of European States- men; and from all that we can foresee is no
more likely to interfere with the sleep of their great grand-children.
as much in either of those countries to
manufacture beer as it costs in the Philippine
Islands.
SIR ROBERT HART.
19
(Daily Press, 6th July.) Amongst the great administrators for whom the Victorian age will ever be famed few names stand out more prominently than that of Sir Roseet Hart, in whose hands for upwards of forty years has rested the control of the Foreign Customs of China; and whose good work has built up one of the most splendid and efficient services of the century. Built up from the beginning free from the dangers of what is usually known as politics, the service has been open to all the nations of the earth; and out of sich an apparently incongruous mixture, through the single-hearted work of the one man, has been built up a service which for unity of purpose and esprit de corps has seldom been exceeded. As having the largest interests at stake, as well as being the most concerned in the opening up of China, the chief management of affairs naturally fell to an Englishman, but so well bas the institution been conducted, and so carefully for many years did Sir ROBERT HART avoid the error of permitting himself to be swayed by merely political considera- tions, that for many years the CustomsTM service was superior to the efforts of those intriguants, native or foreign, who have at all times found Peking a fertile soil for the exercise of their peculiar arts. Sir
ROBERT
HART has now attained
Doubt-
an age when it customary for even the most active of intellects to seek rest in retirement, and from time to time appear evidently inspired paragraphs hinting that the wished-for period has arrived, and that the resignation of the Inspector-General may any day be looked forward to. less in many cases the wish is father to the thought, yet it would be futile to suggest that there is no foundation for these rumour or that the time has not arrived when it is becoming daily more necessary to look the prospect in the face. Personally, The result of the public inquiry held as we hate said, Sir ROBERT HART's admin- by the Commission has doubtless istration has been singularly free of interna- led to some changes and modifications tional jealousies, and the best man has ever in the Bill, but the principle of the measure had the chance of promotion offered to him. as well as its main provisions have received In one particular, and perhaps only one, the endorsement of the Commission. The has the present holder of the office failed to Government evidently takes a vepery o hl meet the expectations of those most interest- view of the future. It is not adinitted that ed in the personality of the service, and stagnated industry and depressed business that is a weakness which curiously he has accurately describes the present condi- shared with many of the greatest minds in tions in the Islands, and our Manila history; he has failed, and the failure is at correspondent, referring a little while the moment a serious one, to train up an PHILIPPINES REVENUE LAW. titude a in The Customs meet with the like universal approval as ago to this matter, indicated the official adequate successor whose appointment would
his own. This absence of political bias is one of the great difficulties that present themselves in the appointment of a succes- sor, as it is essential for the permanence of an office, which itself is one of the strongest guarantees for the continuance of the Em- pire, that this independence of mere politi- cal aims should be the most prominent factor in the appointment of a successor, such an independence as in the present holder has established a record, as Englishman, for perfect justice and impar- tiality, not only as between man and man, but between nationality and nationality. Possibly, and the complaint is pretty general amongst Englishmen, his impar tiality was so strongly marked, that sooner than have it called in question, it some- times, when things were equally balanced, contrived to carry his decision just over the dead centre, and gave the advantage to the non-English.
(Daily Press, 5th July.)
The Internal Revenue Law imposing taxes on tobacco, wines, beer and spirits which our Manila correspondent's telegram in our issue of yesterday reports has been passed, is one which has been pending in the Philippines for the past three years. When the measure was first announced it was greeted with a chorus of disapproval from all the interests in the islands which will be affected by the measure; the five Chambers of Commerce in Manila framed a joint protest, and corporations and firms in- dividually petitioned against the measure. The Commission has occupied a long time in patiently considering the arguments advanced in opposition, but the result evi- dences the fact that it has not beenconvinced that the law will so disastrously affect the industries of the island as the petitioners declare. Whenever and wherever fresh taxation is proposed it is certain to evoke the hositility of the interests to be affected by it, but Governments have to concern
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receipts and consular reports show that on the one hand imports have increased since "the establishment of Auerican rule, and "on the other that there has been no serious falling off of exports. As regards the cost of administration, while there are un- doubtedly more bureaux and more officials with higher salaries, the annual appro- priations and expenditures clearly show "that more revenue is being spent for the people than ever in their history. With new communications being continually opened up in the provinces and the gradual picking up of agriculture the prospect is indeed hopeful and favourable " rather than otherwise to standing the new "taxation." The estimated revenue from the tax is five million dollars, and one-fourth of this will revert to the provinces. The object of the law is declared to support the Government views regarding free trade with the United States, but as we have indicated the optimism of the Government is opposed by blank pessimism on the part of the busi- ness circles concerned, and time alone will prove which view is correct..
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The career of Sir ROBERT HART as Inspector-General may be divided into two great epochs, that before, and that after he had been offered and accepted the post or
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