Evening star., 1925-11-07
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY F.1JL J.. COLLINS.

be sufficient 10 cover the modern needs
of China. with the added burden of The
Boxer settlement. In 1912 another
attempt was made to adjust the teriff-
but 1t failed for want OF ratification
by Is or II nations. Again. in 1918.
another attempt at international
agreement was made. An effort to
restore the actual receipts to a PEI
cent revenue level was agreed 10 in
principle" but in actual practice it
produced only 3E2 per cent.
AT the Washington conference il
vas resolved by the powers TO revise
the Chinese tariff so rs TO give China
an actual revenue amounting TO per
cent of imports and exports. After
months OF labor by the commission
then authorized. revision went into
effect January 7. 1928, but still that
has proved inadequate after its tive.
and-a- half years of trial.
Y y x
In the Washington conference il
was agreed that within three months
after the new treaty with China had
been ratified by all the powers inter
ested China was to call a conference
at Peking for the consideration Of he
tariffs. The Washington conferenC.
agreement was not ratified by Franc
until last August. hence the confer
ence now in session.
1t WAS reported some weeks a."
that the United States had taken the
stand that if other ma tions refused t.
cooperate America would stand alon-
in supporting Chinese independence
This report was officially deprecated
by our Government. Nevertheless. il
1s understood that Americas stronG
stand in beholf of Chinese interests
had much to do with the outcome OF
the present Chinese conference Credit
Is freely accorded to Secretary OF
State Kellogg and to Minister Mac
Murray for the outcome, which can
not fail TO add one more tie between
the governments OF China and the
United States.
The details of the agreement Il"
not in all cases accord with the
hopes OF the Chinese. but the prin-
cipal bjective-ultimate autonomy
overshadows minor details. One nf
the chief stipulations of the foreign
nations was that all internal tariffs
between the Chinese provinces shall
be abolished and in place thereof the
central government shall make ap-
propriations for maintaining the ex-
penses OF the provincial governments.
This is agreed to by the federal gov
ernment, but trouble Is expected from
the "tuchans," who have been fatten-
ing upon their power TO collect taxes
(called 'likin') on all goods entering
their jurisdictions. The foreign i'm
porters are interested in prohibitinS
that provincial burden, as il has
greatly increased the cost of goous
and hampered trade.
Civil wars over that matter are
freely predicted, and then will come
the test of the strength of the re.
public. The plea Of the officials Of the
republic has been that it was unable
to fight the provincial rebels becaus"
of lack of federal revenue.
The practice of ''likin" dates from
1853. The word means contribution
OF a thousa sandth"-one-tenth of per
cent ad valorum--collected at all in
tarstate boundaries. In actual prac
tice the extortion amounts to an aver
age of about 3 per cent at the de-
parture station and per cent at each
boundary. amounting sometimes TO
total as high as 20 per cent between
coast and consumer
Even while processing TO be willing
to give autonomy" TO China, several
of the powers we're insistent at first
in planning to require that China
stipulate that she would devote the
Increased revenue to certain produc-
tive enterprises, or to the payment Of
foreign debts and not permit it to fall
into the hands Of the military tuchans.
The United States opposed any such
exaction, for that would in itself be
a restriction utterly subversive of real
independent sovereignty of the Chinese
Republic.
The four years postponement Of
La
10 adjust Itself.