The situation is interesting in view of the
amiable resolutions adopted at Washington, by which the Powers
would seem to have debarred themselves, in the future, from any
active form of intervention in this country. In view of the
extensive opposition to the Liang Shih-yi Cabinet and the present
interference with the salt negotiations, the $90,000,000
(L11,000,000) loan to be secured on the salt surplus has been
dropped. The problem of how to weather the new year settlement on
January 28th remains unsolved.
It is a pretty game: creating artificial bankruptcy, and then inflicting
punishment for the resulting anarchy. How regrettable that the
Washington Conference should attempt to interfere!
It is useless to deny that the Chinese have brought these troubles upon
themselves, by their inability to produce capable and honest officials.
This inability has its roots in Chinese ethics, which lay stress upon a
man's duty to his family rather than to the public. An official is
expected to keep all his relations supplied with funds, and therefore
can only be honest at the expense of filial piety. The decay of the
family system is a vital condition of progress in China. All Young China
realizes this, and one may hope that twenty years hence the level of
honesty among officials may be not lower in China than in Europe--no
very extravagant hope.
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