The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-21
THE BALTIMORE IS
 NOW AT SHANGHAI
OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON DO NOT BELIEVE THAT REGENT TROUBLE WAS RESULT OF THE AMERICAN BOYCOTT.

Washington, December 20-The state de-
 partment has received q cablegram from
 Shanghai announcing the arrival there
 last evening of men from the Baltimore.
 German, Japanese and Austrian cruisers
 were on their way to Shanghai. Quiet
 prevailed yesterday but only because of
 the armed force controlling the city.
 The mixed court was still closed. The
 Chinese authorities were trying to effect
 a compromise, but demanded a removal
 of the British assessor, which demand
 was refused. There was no report of
 trouble at the outposts, but the mis-
 sionaries were being alarmed and many
 were arriving in Shanghai.
 It is clear to the officials here that
 the trouble in Shanghai is not due to anti American feeling and especially to the boycott, so that other nations at least have now a personal interest in doing
 what they can to restore order in the
 treaty ports The dispatches show that in Shanghai at least the ebullition of anti-foreign feeling was caused by the
 conflict between the mixed court and
 the municipal authorities and the British were the particular object of the Chinese | aversion.
 | As understood here, the trouble arose | from the action of the British assessor | in levying a tax on a Chinese resident | of the foreign settlement. The court is | curious body, made up of a Chinese magistrate who holds sittngs every week. | On two days of each week an American | official from the consulate generally sits with him, in the capacity of assessor; on | two other days a similar German offi- | cal sits, and on the remaining two week days a British representative. This court has Jurisdiction over all licenses | and taxes payable by the Chinese in the | foreign settlement of Shanghai The 1 French have a similar court of their own. The Chinese municipal authorities l have always been jealous of this court | and there have been many clashes in the past owing to the efforts of the Chinese | to collect these taxes themselves The court also possesses the power to punish | culprits and frequently causes the cat o-nine tails to be laid on, while the Chin- csc whip culprits with bamboos For a long time past the Chinese have been l trying to reduce the authority of the mixed court and it Is inferred here that 1 the present trouble has arisen from the assertion of jurisdiction by the British I over some Chinese merchant.
 | Chee Foo December 20 d0 p. m.)-A prominent European official who is visit | ing Che Foo crystalizing the opinions | of persons thoroughly acquainted in China | and with the present disorders states that l the Shanghai troubles were the direct result of the American boycott. He thinks the American officials at Washington | should honor the Chinese demands for | revision of the exclusion laws, and | insisted upon the immediate suppression | of the boycott. He characterizes the | boycott movement as an agitation for an | exhibition of anti-foreign feeling and an | nf1amatory propa ganda carried on in | China brought about through the results l of the Chinese-Japanese war.
 1 "While the boycott in itself is harm l less" continues the official quoted, '.it | has been used by the revolutionary anti | foreign faction of the Chinese to precipi- | tate a repetition of the Boxer troubles | though 1t Is probable that the excitable | clements have eluded the control of the | real conspirators and caused premature demonstrations.
 "I7nless the Washington authorities l take immediate and strong measures to | suppress the agitation in Shanghai. trou- bles which are now merely local will spread"
 | The failure of the American boycott | appears in Che Foo to be due undoubt- l edly to the stern demand of American | Consul Fowler that the Chinese refrain 1 from holding meetings or issuing innam- l matory placards, discussing the inability | of the dangerous Chinese element to suc- l cessfully prosecute their agitation.