The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-03
GERMANY IN CHINA.

The acquisition of the Carolines will
give Germany a better foothold in the
Orient and enable the kaiser to take
the part in the Chinese controversy
that he has been longing for since Rus
STA and England began growing at
each other from Port Arthur to Hong
kong.
Several years ago the German gov
eminent leased from China a portion
OF the province of Kiao Chou embrace
ing $40 square kilometres. with SO, 900 to
$4,000 Chinese inhabitants. But the
conditions of the landed property and
the vested rights of resident natives
presented complications which Ger
many has never been able to master.
In Kiao Chou, as well as everywhere
else in China, the emperor has a feudal
right theoretically TO the whole soil;
practically, however, the ownership of
the holder OF cultivated land was rec
ognized if he paid a ground rent. There
We're no registers of landed property,
but only tax lists.
on the day that the Germans took
possession Of the leased area, a procla-
nation was issued forbidding the sales
OF landed property. Voluntary con-
tracts were made with the Chinese to
the effect that the inhabitants of the
various villages should receive double
the amount Of the annual Chinese
ground tax as a kind of premium in
consideration of which they bound
themselves TO sell their land to nobody
but the German government. In case
the land should be bought by the gov
ernment the price to be paid was to be
based on the valuation of the land be-
fore the German lease was made. In
the meanwhile the owners were to con-
tinue to hold and to till their ground.
These conditions were hard to secure,
but eventually the Germans were able
TO lay out streets, squares, quays and
Notifications
In September of last year Kjao Chou
was declared a free port The free
port district includes the whole Ger
man territory. y Chinese customs Of
fee was established in the German ter
ritoTy near the landing place of the
ships. AT the head of it is a German
in the service of the Chinese maritime
customs administration. The estab-
lishment of this customs office is of
particular advantage to the trade. as
1t saves time and expense of another
examination of imported goods on the
crossing Of the hinterland frontier.
The customs and duties are regulated
according to the tariff for the Chinese
treaty ports. This concession not only
benefits the German trader, but is de-
veloping that part of China to a
marked degree. Contact with foreign
powers has benefited China in many
ways, if it has resulted in whetting
their appetites for conquest. The only
policy that can save the empire is to
adopt modern methods in commerce
and intercourse with other nations.
Every point yielded to another govern
ment may seem to be a point lost but
there are others gained. The awaken
ing of China is seen in several edicts
recently issued. One permits foreign
steam vessels to ply upon the navigable
waters of practically all inland
streams, this privilege being extended
to small steam vessels, which may go
TO the very head of navigation in all
treaty port provinces. Another permits
foreigners to visit all parts of the en-
pire for business or trade purposes.
The effect of these departures from
the Undiscovered policy of exclusive.
ness was noticed at once in the prompt
movement from all parts of the bust