The Daily Missoulian., 1913-01-21
The Republic of China
Concluding the Loan.
BY Frederic j. Haskin

ably would not have survived. The
point of view of the American mem
bers of the group in this regard was
set forth later by Willard ID. Straight
who was the Peking agent o- the
American section until last April In
answering this argument he spoke as
follows in the course of an addrs IS on
the Chinese loan negotiations, deliv-
cred at Clark university, Worcester,
Mass, on November IA. 1912:
The comparison however is not
jutifiable for it should I've remembered
that when our federal government was
| first established there was no large
public debt while the resources of the
young American republic We're enor-
nous. The funds secured from abroa d
during our revolution. and immediate-
ly following it's conclusion. had been
advanced by the French government,
not SO much with the idea of assist
irg the struggling colonies as for the
purpose of embarrassing Great
Britain. Only when Alexander Ham
ilton had reorganized the finances of
the country. securing the assumption
by the federal government of the
| larger part of the debt Of the states
and after he had put the administra-
ton of the treasury department on a
sound basis, We're the United States
able to borrow from foreign bankers
on satisfactory terms The ministry
of finance in Peking. however is stil
operating on lines scarcely comfort
able to our ideas of a business admin
istraton, despite the efforts of able
men like DR. Chen Chin Tao, while
the republican government has as,
sumed the obligations OF its imperial
predecessor for which the revenues of
China are to a very lHllo degree al.
ready hypothecated, and for the serv-
ice of which they are at the present
time insufficient"
A dramatic feature Of the loan dead
lock was the political suicide of Tang
Shao vi, the premier Of China. whose
dealings had been responsible for the
first break between the government
and the six power group After the
Belgian loan was exposed the matter
was taken out of his hands entirely
and entrusted to the minister of
finance. The situation became moro
intolerabe to Premier Tang as the
lines tghtened around him, and one
day last August, following a horrid
dispute with the minister of finance
in the presence of the cabinet, he left
the meeting, sneaked to the railway
station in an ordinary street ricksha.
and fled to the foreign concessions in
the city of Tientsin. IS miles away.
The pleas of President Yuan failed
to bring him back to his duties. and
his "resignation'' was soon accepted.
The last attempt of the Chinese gov
ernment to get money without ap-
pealing to the six power group was in
September. when c. Birch Crisp g. Co,
of London undertook to float a loan
of $50,000,000. One-half was Offered
to the market, and it was necessary
for underwriters to take most Of it
The bankers put up 80 per cent for
the bonds, so that China got only So
100000 The other half OF the issue
was never floated
Great Britain formally protested the
Crisp loan, both in London and
Peking. Relations between the gov
ernment and the six power gro1,p soon
became more amicable and on January
i'' ''oi came llie olllClal nCtlCc
that the terms of the bankers have
been accepted, and that an advance of
$l25,0O0,ooO Is to be made at once.
The Crisp loan of $25,000OO0 was in
cluded and compromise agreeable 10
all concerned was effected 10 1avs
later
tomorrow: The Republic of China.
VI. A Tangled CURRENCY.