The Washington times., 1925-08-11
SHANGHAI s SAD.
AS old ORDER
CHANGETH
Extraterritorial System VIII
Rob China Of 'Gaiety.
White Man to Go
BY BERT L. KUHN
International News Service

SHANGHAI, China, Aug IL
Shanghai is wearing a doleful and
pessifnistic air these days. The
Paris of the East" is beginning 20
be haunted by the specter of q gay
white Way" turned dull and gray
and million-dollar dance palaces de-
void of the last faint echoes of
jazz. Old China hands and young
sters. too, are already talking of
1.-The handwriting on the WALL and
mournfully bemoaning the passing
of the white mans day in China.
ALI hopes, all thoughts. all fears
fable enough in print-exJraterrito-
riality. For when extraterritori-
atty goes. say the old-timers, the
white mans knell has sounded. 4
Whether the tragic outlines of
the picture are too much intensi-
fled remains to be seen. This
much is certain. The Russians
have lost their extraterritorfal
rights in China; yet, refugees as
most of them are, they somehow
manage to exist. And the Germans,
all of whose special privileges in
the Orient went down in the weller
OF the war. have undoubtedly, since
the war, come back stronger than
ever.
But the die.l1ards are not to be
consoled. Only the protection az
forded them by the foreign conces-
sions and settlements in China has
made life possible for the post war
Germans, they say, and as for. the
Russians, they point to the case Of
NJ. Ostroumoff. former managing
director of the Chinese Eastern
Railway, who, after solid years
Imprisonment by Marshal Chang
Tso lin, War Lord of Mukden, is
just beginning to learn what is the
nature of the charges against him.
What is the modus operandi of
this, from a foreign standpoint, so
highly priced extraterritorial sys-
tenn? Simply the application to
foreigners resident in China of thu
laws of their own nation, admins
tered by their own officials, in
stead of the laws of China admins
tered by Chinese officials.
You, as an American, for In
stance, come to China You park
your automobile on the wrong side
Of the street or you imbibe. too
freely of the 100 proof which
Is still quite legal here, or you
commit a robbery, murder or any
other major or minor crime. The
AHtIGSS pOIGSs CdA4lOL SOuY
nor can you be detained in Chi
nese Jail or forced to stand trial
tefore Chinese court. Instead, 4
complaint against you is filed in
the American Court for China, over
which Federal judge presides;
your case is heard there according
to American law, and il you are
found guilty you are confined
either in the American Court JAN
a. Shanghai or. in the Philippine
Peuitentiary at Bnibid.
Similarly, in all civil actions
against you, you can be sued only
in the American court, under
American law, regardless Of the
nationality of the plaintiff or the
natupe of his claim.
The extraterritorial system has,
IN the opinion Of most residents
Uf China, justified itself as abso-
iutely essential to the safe resi-
dence of foreigners in China.
Though there are malpractices in
some of the foreign courts. these
are nothing as compared with the
widespread corruption in the Chin
csc tribunals. most of which are
dominated directly by the military
leader who hanpens TO be I'm power
momentarily in the vicinity Of the
court