New-York tribune., 1909-07-05
THAT RUss0-CHINEsE AGREEMENT.

Our government does well 10 insist upon
careful scrutiny of the agreement between Rms
sla and China concerning the control Of the
Chinese Eastern Railway and the adjacent
lands It may be that there is nothing In It TO
which objection can properly be made But it
is not forgotten that some former agreements
between the same powers concerning the same
region did grossly violate the principles Of in
ternational equity aud impartiality, and for that
reason II is desirable that the terms and pro
spectiye effect of this new compact shall be
made entirely clear. The preliminary agree
ment" was signed at Peking on May 10 last, and
WAS according 10 its own Introductory para
graph, intended to settle differences of opinion
which had arisen concerning Interpretation OF
the former agreement Of August q, 1896. for
the construction and working of the Chinese
Eastern Railway.
This agreement provides for the establishment
of self-governIng municipalities in the CONNER
cial centres along the railway, the governments
Of which shall be constituted by the votes OF
all residents who own real estate Of a certain
value or who pay rents or taxes Of a certain
amount This provision, in view of the actual
ownership of the bulk Of the railroad lands IS
expected to assure pretty complete Russian con-
troll Of these municipalities. IF not. the director
Of the railway is invested with the right Of
control and personal revision" which ne may
exercise whenever he sees fit, over the acts OF
the municipal governments. Moreover, the rail
way company itself IS to administer, separately
from the municipalities, the properties which
in its discretion it may set apart for the
vice of the railway, and "all Unbiased lands Of
the railway company to be subject to the
management of the company and are 10 be ex-
empt from land tax.
on the face of IT, then. this agreement seems
to provide for the creation not only of an I'm
periun in jmperiO. but also of a second one
within the first That IS to say, there would be
municipalities within Chinese territory which
would be exempt from Chinese rule and subject
only to the control Of the Russians or other
aliens who We're settled within them and there
would also be within each Of these municipal
ties corporate estate independent of the mu-
nicipality and subject only TO the control of an
alien corporation. And while all the holdings
Of Americans or other foreigners in the munich
pality might be taxed at the will of the
municipal government, the property of the Rus
sian corporation would be free from taxation. 1t
is also TO be observed that Japan, after the
Treaty Of Portsmouth, succeeded to all of Rus
sas rights and privileges In the southern part
of Manchuria this agreement would imply simi-
discrimination in favor OF the japanese rail-
road corporation in that region There is no
thought Of disregard of the proper rights of the
Russian and Japanese c0rporatiOns-meaning
substantially the governments of those countries
which are developing the transportation lines,
industries and resources of Manchuria. But 1t
is not uniting to seek complete and convincing
assurances that in their operations they are not
violating the principles Of the open door, of
equal privileges for all nations and Of the terri
toriaI integrity OF China to which those powers
as well as the United States are fully pledged.