The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-25
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1905
CLEAICUR HONOR

LsSry honest man IN the country
ought to sympathize heartily with the
proposal to turn back to China the
$20,O0O,O0O or more of indemnity fund
which We collected from her by force
after the Boxer rebellion. Every man
ought to write to his member of con-
gress insisting that the necessary ap-
preparation for the purpose be made at
once.
So-called civilization has seen no
deeper disgrace than the treatment af-
forded to China by the allied powers. 1t
was simply highway robbery, on a gi-
gantic scale and under hypocritical
pretenses. These powers had suffered
some loss and been put to some ex-
pense by domestic disturbances in
China. They seized the opportunity
not only to loot the country and scat
ter great quantities of valuable pillage
all over the world, but to 'pry open the
Chinese treasury and collect some hun
dreds of millions of pure theft. China
had to pay, but her most despicable act
has never exceeded this enormity com.
mitted by her so-called superiors.
We have never had reason to be
proud of our share in this perform
ance, but we have claimed that we
acted in good faith. Not being able
to tell at the moment exactly how much
money would cover actual losses. we
made our claim large enough The
only way to prove that this was in
good faith is to return the unexpended
balance. As long as a dollar of this
Doodle remains in the treasury of the
United States we shall be, indeed. no
worse than, our neighbors, but we shall
have no right to our own self-respect.
The work of reparation will require
considerable public sentiment to back
It, We all remember the case of the
Alabama award, and how many years
1t was before congress would listen to
the plain dictates of justice concern
ing a similar excess in that payment
AS China is in lower repute than Great
Britain, we may expect that We have
no easier task before us now.'
1t is to the credit of President Roose-
Welt that he has taken the lead in rec
ommending the return of this money
although, with his characteristic desire
to run things, he wishes to tell China
what she shall do with it, He proposes
that we give back the money if China
consents to appropriate it to educa-
tional purposes. Now the motive in this
may be very laudable, but we confess
we fail to see the connection. II is
none of our business what China does
with this money, which actually be-
longs to her, although unrighteously in
our possession. You would not regard
highly. the gentle highwayman wbo
suggested that he would return tho
purse wrested from you yesterday if
you should agree to present its con-
tents to an orphan asylum. Or, assum-
ing our innocence and making a strict
~ parallel case, we should set the DO
lice on the track of man who adver-
tised that he had found large sum of
money in the street, and would return
1t only when the owner should prove
property and promise to turn it over to
some public charity.
Education is a great good, and China
needs a lot of it. 1t is not for us to
force it upon her in this fashion. and II
is highly disgraceful for us to take the
ground that we will not return stolen
property unless We can direct the dis
position of it. For the honor of the