The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-20

all these factors mpst have injurious ly affected jApsn. hatever her domes- tic condition. Their potency has, how ever. been much aocentuated in the eyes of business men by financial mis- management.
 Last spring the Ministry took . step excellent in aim. but faulty in 100000 of the Wer Loan fen due for
 redemption in pe&smber, 1908. It was
 decided to antie,pa&e that date and to redeem the loan in portions of $10.ooo.- 900 at . tirnp. the eb5Set being to re-
 lieve the money market.
 An excellent efkect would have been produced had the money been repaid by the process of lot-drawing. and had there not been any simultaneous tnvi- tation to rewrite. The Treasury. how ever. instead of employing lots. called for competitive tenders. and. at the same time. invited rewriting at the extraordinary high rate of 8.2 per cent. The former method might well be de- tended on the ground that 1t would ensure the receipt of the money by those who most needed 1t: but the late ter procedure amountd to the discred- iting of its own securities by the Gov ernment iself.
 Loud voices of condemnation were raised on all sides, and 1t became evf-
 dent that the Ministry had forfeited
 the confidence of the business world :.
 As soon as . decent interval had
 elapsed after the elections. therefore.
 Marquis saion1i asked to be released
 from office. Nobody thought 1t proba-
 ble that a change of Ministry would
 bring any very marked change of hnan-
 cial policy, bet everybody understood
 that no financial policy pursued by the
 Saion1i Cabinet could command public
 confidence.
 The seiyu-kai Ministry might have
 remained in power and challenged their
 critics to take the verdict of the Diet
 financial readjuatment But that
 course. though doubtless leading to .
 parliamentary triumph. would have en-
 broiled the party with business men
 and would have identified 1t permanent
 ly in the eyes of the people with high
 taxes and commercial depression. It
 was better to step aside and leave the
 stage to men whose measures would not
 be looked at askance from the outset. A writer in the North China Herald
 protests against the ruin which is be-
 ing allowed to overtake that great
 triumph of engineering. the Grand Ca-
 nal of China. The Government. he points out. is allowing the canal to go to decay. The lower stretches have within the past IeW months been aI- lowed to become the habitat of organ ized and aggressive river pirates. who fire into steam launches and plunder
 passenger boats and cargo boats indis- criminately.
 In the upper regions of the canal there is. on the other hand, constant shortage of water, or so much that Ii cannot be utilized. A more perfect pro- vision by nature of vast natural dams | in the great lakes of Southwest Shan tung, and Northern Kiangsu 1t would | be dificult to find. but they are either unused or misused.
 The writer goes on to allude to the | sitting up of the cratic Yellow River
 which Is now in many places as much above the level of all the surrounding | country as the second story of house | above the ground. Those who know | best, he says. predict another tremen. dous calamity from this source in the | not distant future. Then there will bt | exclamations of surprise that 1t did not come sooner and howls for funds fol | relief"
 l Millions of Chinese will be impover' fshed. hundreds of thousands of then
 will be rendered homeless and tens oi
 thousands of them drowned and starv l ed.