Evening star., 1901-02-16
BIG BILLS TO MEET
But China is Perfectly Able to Pay
the Indemnity.
ONE TAX item WOULD SUFFICE
Only a Fraction of 1t Reaches the
Imperial Golfers.
TO ENFORCE THE CLAIMS

Written for The Evening Star by Guy Morrison
Walker.
China is today facing one Of the heaviest
indemnities ever imposed upon any nation.
The bill of costs drawn against her by the
various nations on account OF the recent
uprising against the missionaries. with Its
consequences. will, when all the items are
entered, foot up to more than $500, 900, 600.
How can China pay it? There seems to be
a general impression on this side of the
world that the enforcement of this claim
will plunge the oldest empire into hopeless
bankruptcy. This idea is based an un-
derestimate of China's enormous resources.
China Is able to pay, and that without i'm
posing upon her people an appreciably
heavier burden than they now bear.
Many charitable and kind-hearted people
believe that the claims upon China should
be limited to the actual damage to foreign
residents and foreign property. But this
would represent no penalty at all for the
misdeeds Of the Chinese; the claims would
be so small as to cause no embarrassment
to China whatsoever. even though they were
increased for the purpose of indemnifying
the native Christians. During the whole
uprising only about one hundred foreign
missionaries have lost their lives and If to
these are added those who were killed in
the defense of the legations at Pekin or in
jured to such an extent that their death can
be directly traced to the same cause, the
whole number Of death claims against
China would still be represented by less
than two hundred lives lost. 1t has been
fairly established by a long line Of prece-
dents that $500 Is a reasonable indemnity
for loss Of life. Thus the aggregate claims
against China on account Of the deaths of
foreigners will not amount to more than
$5.O00OoO. It is extremely doubtful whether
the claims for the destruction Of mission
property will exceed 81 100000 and GER
tainly 100000 more will cover all claims
on account of the destruction of foreign
property in Pekin and Tien Tsin. If, as
suggested. this sum be swelled to include
indemnity for the native Christians, the
whole claim against China, Independent of
the cost of the military expeditions, should
not be more than s20.00O,OOO.
Punitive Damages.
1t has, however, been agreed that In
demnity shall be paid to states as well as
to corporations and individuals. and on
this agreement are based the heavy claims
against China
If the powers had been willing to limit
their claims against China to the actual
ccst of their expeditions for the relief OF
Pekin, s100,O00,UW would easily have COW
cred all claims. The Russian government,
whose part in the relief expedition was
second only to JapanS in size, and,
sdering the distance from which the troops
were brought and the difficulties under
which they were sent, far more expensive,
has stated that it's total expenditures
this account We're less than $4,000, 900.
Certainly s10,OO0,000 would cover the
actual expenses of Japan, and six or eight
million will cover the cost of our detach-
ment in the relief expedition. The claim
of no other power except Great Britain
could possibly be anywhere near as large
ours, but the greed and arrogance of some
of the powers precludes all possibility of
China escaping with any such payment.
Germany, who took no part in the relief of
Pekin, has since poured in large force,
that has ravaged the province of Peichili,
slaughtering thousands of inhabitants and
destroying millions of dollars worth of
property, and for this she proposes to make
claim of over $50. 900, 900. Such a claim can
not be justified on the score of actual dam
ages or expenses, even when swelled by
the enormous salaries which Germany has
allowed to her officers and soldiers for this
purpose. 1t can be based only on the theory
that punitive damages must be enforced for
the insult to national representatives and
for the breach of International treaties.
With Germany making a claim of such pro-
portions, 1t is, Of course, necessary for the
other powers to increase their claims by
including the same punitive damages, in
order to secure their fair proportion Of the
ultimate award, and so 1t Is that China Is
today facing bill of costs exceeded only
by that enormous claim made by Germany
at the end Of the Franco-Prussian war, for
the purpose, as stated by Prince Bismarck,
OF DleeuluS france pale.
A Possible BIunder.
In the methods Of collecting this great In
demnity the powers are in danger Of max
ing blunder. 1t has been stated in the
dispatches that they would call upon China
to assign the 'likin'' or transit taxes as
security for the indemnity, but such
proposition would miss the desired effect.
In the first place. the Hkin taxes are one
Of the most insignificant sources OF revenue
to the Chinese government. The total re-
ceipts from them amount to less than $1O.-
OOO,OOO per year. Moreover, these taxes are
already assigned as security for the last
Chinese loan, amounting to over $4,000, 600,
and the charges on this account against
the likin taxes amount to $6OOO,OOOs per
year, leaving less than 100000 per an
mum available as security for this great
indemnity. In addition to this the likin or
transit taxes are the greatest existing him
drance to the growth of foreign trade in
China They are so burdensome now that
1t Is rarely that foreign goods penetrate
more than thirty forty miles inland, and
instead Of accepting them as security for
any part of the indemnity they should be
entirely abolished. Any attempt to increase
the tax would result in absolutely prohibit
ing the import Of foreign goods beyond the
limit Of the treaty ports.
Customs Duties.
But China has other means whereby to
pay. The present national debt of the en-
pire Is only about 2o00OOoOO, being al
most entirely created for the purpose OF
paying the indemnity imposed at the end or
the Japanese war. The first $175. 600 OF
this debt is secured by the customs and
revenues Of the empire, which are now ad-
ministered by a foreign force under the d.
rection Of Sir Robert Hart. The customs
duties collected by China amount to 3D.
600. 900 taels ($16 500, ,OOO per annum. and
the cost of administration is about 10 per
THE SARCASTIC