The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-19
HANDED
OUTRAGES IN
MANCHURIA
Neither Russians Nor laps Re-
SpeCt Rights of European
Residents.
LIFE AND PROPERTY
UNSAFE AT PRESENT
SERIOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS
CERTAIN TO RESULT UNLESS
POWERS LISTEN TO CHINA.

London, April ia particularly in
teresting description of conditions in
Hardin and Mukden. in view of the re-
cent discussion over the government of
Harbln and the trouble with Japanese
at the American consulate in Mukden,
is contained in a letter written by a
correspondent at Pekin of the Reuter-
News agency. The letter, dated March
20, follows:
During a recent tour in Manchuria
l visited Hardin. A remarkable state
of affairs exists there The Russian
town is governed and dominated by
private railway company, the Chinese
Eastern railway, the chairman of which
styldA himself the civil governor The
government of the company is not re-
garded as satisfactory.
Life and Property Unsafe.
Neither lie nor property is safe, and
it is as much as a mans life is worth
TO venture out after dark. 1t is impOs-
sible to send telegram after the sun
has gone down, as nobody can be in
duced TO risk his life for love or money
To go to the imperial Chinese telegraph
administration. which is in the Chinese
town some distance away, nor can a
telegram be delivered in the Russian
town after dark for the same reason
The Russian railway telegraph works
q indifferently. 1t is often found that a
letter is delivered more quickly than a
telegram. What strikes one most about
the Russian town Is the absence of any
police in the streets. and the soldiers
who are there do no police work. much
as 1t is needed. Trade is at a standstill,
and will probably continue so as long
as present conditions last. The Rus
SLAMS themselves grumble at the lack
of money in the place. Fires are con-
slant, and in a good many cases arson,
with a view to securing insurance
money, is suspected. The Chinese town
is in much better condition and is po-
Iced.
Railway the Whole Thing.
THE main topic of conversation was
that of the new municipal regulations
whereby the railway was TO hand over
its arbitrarily exercised functions TO a
kind of municipal court, consisting of
sixty persons, and a town council con-
sisting of a chairman and five mem
bers. two of them being appointed by
the railway, the company exercising at
the same time the rights of SuperYi-
sion. review and veto. 1t would also
be necessary to obtain the consent of
the railway administration before the
municipal body could enter into rela-
lions with the Chinese government.
Should these municipal regulations
be enforced in spite Of the protest
which the Chinese government has
made to the different foreign powers, a
serious state of affairs will result. trade
and business development will be
cramped and a precedent created for
the Japanese to do the same in south
Manchuria.
Japs Insult Europeans.
"One Of the chief things which strikes
the visitor to Mukden and south Man
churia is that the japanese who are
pouring into that country are not by
any means of the right class. During
the war the Chinese and others looked
on the Japanese as their saviOrs and
welcomed them; but later experiences
have changed all that. N the streets
one sees many Japanese drunk ana dis
orderly. and their behavior TO Eu-
ropeans is often one of open insult. An
English resident told me that one night
as he was driving through the city in
his cart a Japanese suddenly sprang
onto it and insisted on sitting on the
shaft The man refused to get down
when asked to do so, and only yielded
10 force Ladies complain of the rude
ness of Japanese letter carriers, who
push Chinese servants aside and burst
into their drawing rooms, throwing on
the floor or on tables their bundle of
letters. The Chinese complain that the
japanese do not pay their house rent.
More serious still is the presence of
social evil of the worst sort, from
which the Japanese authorities derive
revenue