The Washington herald., 1921-05-27
No anonymous conmuni-
cations will he printed In
the .Open Court column.
THE EDITOR.
The Consortium and Our
Policy Toward China.
10 the Editor The wsshington Herald:

10 the EdltOr Ihe washington heraio.
Several days ago The Herald. in
common with other Washington
newspapers. carried a news item
stating that DR.. Sun Yat Sen, first
provisional president of the Chinese
republic, had appealed to the state
department for recognition of the
Chinese southern government at
Canton. Then, a few days later,
appeared dispatches from Peking to
the effect that several liberal mem
bers of the Peking cabinet had re-
signed and that reactionaries.
among them members of the old
pro-Japanese Anfu clique. had been
appointed to the positions in the
norther Chinese cabinet.
Americans who at best have only
a hazy idea of Chinese politics are
at a loss to understand these
changes in the Chinese political
situation. Since the state depart
ment has recently given its in
dorsement of the international
banking consortium organized In
Paris during 1918 for the purpose
of financing public enterprises in
China, naturally Washington and
the American people in general
are, and should be, interested In
what goes on in China. 1t should
be understood. in the first place.
that all during the European war.
when America and the allies had
their attention concentrated upon
the defeat of Germany. China was
ruled by a clique of military ofh-
cials who were subsidized and kept
in power by Japanese yen. In all,
T. dsnF rNa n
approximately $3.50, 100000 into
China for this purpose.
In July, 1919, the liberal elements
in China. inspired by the patriotic
students, overthrow this corrupt
Anfu clique. Practically the entire
Anfu cabinet, when forced out of
office, fed to the Japanese legation
in Peking for protection, and have
remained there almost uninterrupt-
edly to the present, A few OF the
leaders who did not fee to the
Japanese legation were given pro-
lection by the present presidetn of
China. who, as Is known in China,
also obtained his election through
the use of japanese money. These
outlawed officials have been con-
Quoting their intrigues since their
overthrow from the sanctum of the
Japanese legation in Peking. If
we could imagine a similar case
here in America, we might assume
for example, that some official Of
this government had been caught
embezzling funds and intriguing
with our enemies during the war,
and when discovered he had escaped
by fleeing to one of the foreign le-
cations here, and thus had been
able to avoid prosecution by the
United States government officials.
This gives some idea Of what has
been going on in China.
The present situation in China is
about this: The officials in China
who now control the Chinese Pc
king government and who are rec
ognized by this government are
military chieftains largely recruited
from the bandit and coolie classes.
assisted by reactionary civil on
cials under the leadership Of Presi-
dent Hsu Shih-Chang. These men
are not representative of China and
hold their positions only by virtue
of recognition accorded by the pow
ers, America included, and all fol-
lowing the leadership of Japan.
This Is exactly the same policy that
Japan follows in Siberia by sup
porting Semenoff, the former Co.'S
sack bandit, and the other reac-
tionafy Russian officials who have
been driven out OF Russia by the
Russian people. The citizens or
Siberia, who are nom wolsheviki,
are in practically the same situa-
ton as the citizens of China. Both