So long as the foreign officials are responsible to the
Chinese Government, not to foreign States, they fulfil a useful
educative function, and help to prepare the way for the creation of an
efficient Chinese State. The problem for China is to secure practical
and intellectual training from the white nations without becoming their
slaves. In dealing with this problem, the system adopted in the Customs
has much to recommend it during the early stages.[30]
At the same time, there are grave infringements of Chinese independence
in the present position of the Customs, apart altogether from the fact
that the tariff is fixed by treaty for ever. Much of the revenue
derivable from customs is mortgaged for various loans and indemnities,
so that the Customs cannot be dealt with from the point of view of
Chinese interests alone. Moreover, in the present state of anarchy, the
Customs administration can exercise considerable control over Chinese
politics by recognizing or not recognizing a given _de facto_
Government. (There is no Government _de jure_, at any rate in the
North.) At present, the Customs Revenue is withheld in the South, and an
artificial bankruptcy is being engineered. In view of the reactionary
instincts of diplomats, this constitutes a terrible obstacle to internal
reform. It means that no Government which is in earnest in attempting
to introduce radical improvements can hope to enjoy the Customs revenue,
which interposes a formidable fiscal barrier in the way of
reconstruction.
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