The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-03


The refusal of China to make further
payments of her indemnity fund to the
various powers otherwise than on a silver
basis introduces a new factor in the finan-
cial and political world, and one that may
prove embarrassing. A dispatch from Pc
king says that the ministers there OF the
foreign powers propose to unite in a state
ment to the Chinese government that adj
herence to this decision will entail grave
consequences. The possible gravity of these
consequences may be inferred from the fact
that such action by China would be de-
parture from the international protocol
made after the toxer war. This document
ment and distribution among the powers
of an indemnity of $3250OO.OOO. with an un-
derstanding that the payments should be
in gold or in silver on a gold basis. The
first installment Of the indemnity, which
became due in July last, was paid on a
silver basis, the nations receiving the
money reserving the right to reclaim the
difference between the silver and gold basis,
thus finally exacting the whole amount of
the indemnity in gold. The decision of
China now announced is that future pay
ments will be made on the silver basis
without conceding the powers the right to
reclaim the difference between silver and
gold. The United States dealt generously
with China during the whole negotiation
that followed the war and tried to have
the indemnity fund greatly reduced below
what was finally exacted. 1t also foresaw
the difficulty that would probably arise
| from requiring China to make the pay
ments on gold basis, because Of her i'm
| poverished condition and defective reve-
nue. system. That government at the pres
ent time is experiencing the same embar-
rassment that Mexico Is on account of the
depreciation of silver and the heavy losses
incident to paying foreign debts on gold
basis. A Washington dispatch says:
| Some idea of the extra charge that would
| be imposed on China did she yield to the
almost general demand of the powers for
payment of these indemnities on gold
| basis may be gathered from the fact that,
whereas the Chinese tael. which was the
! basis of the calculation of the Indebted
ness, which was worth IA cents at the time
| the agreement was signed in Peking, is
| now worth only 81 cents. The impression
prevails here among persons who have
| taken part In these settlements that the
| indemnities demanded by the powers are
| far beyond China s. ability. She may for a
year or two borrow enough money from
| various internal sources to pay the INSTALL
ments falling due every six months, but in
| a short time the powers will be compelled
at the risk of losing everything to come to
readjustment of the whole Indebtedness,
either by submitting the case to arbitra-
ton at The Hague. which China ardently
desires, or by a mutual agreement between
the creditor nations.
The question is one of sufficient impor-
lance to be referred to The Hague tribunal
but some difficulty might arise in that
China, though one of the powers originally
signatory to The Hague convention, has
thus far failed to ratify the treaty Great
thereof. This may be due merely to the
dilatory methods of Oriental governments
but 1t would be something of bar to
her getting a hearing before that tribuna
unless 1t should be held that the United
States might act as an intermediary in hel
behalf. as it is doing in the case of vene
zuela, who was not represented at The
Hague conference at all. 1t has been un
derstood from the beginning that the
United States was opposed to using any
further compulsion towards China, both or
the ground Of treating generously a veal
and undeveloped nation Frustrated by war
, and also because it would tend to para
, lyze Chinese trade. 1t is not unlikely tina
, the indemnity question may furnish anothe
, occasion for the United States insisting OF
i a reference to The Hague. tribunal.