Political Pot-Pourri

Great Britain, anxious to restore a modicum of order in chaotic China, suggests joint action by the Powers to restore normal conditions along the Chinese coast and up the great rivers.

The U. S. A. is opposed to using force against China, believing that the interests of foreigners can be safeguarded by diplomatic means. In any case, it is the firm intention of the U. S. State Department to maintain the "open door" in China as a practical means of displaying American amity for that nation.

Japan, although maintaining that force is necessary "to bring the Chinese to their senses," believes that naval action would be futile. The Japanese want a military campaign.

One reason for this is, of course, that they are anxious to break the Japanese boycott now assuming serious proportions in the coastal provinces of China. The boycott was started as a protest against Japan's refusal to abrogate the 1915 treaty containing the famous 21 demands. (TiME, March 31, April 7.)

The Diplomatic Corps in Peking, capital of China, has under consideration a proposal for the indemnification of the foreign prisoners held by bandits after the train hold-up near Tsinan, capital of Shantung province, in May. The prime factors in this plan are that for the first three days of imprisonment foreigners should receive $500 a day and for each subsequent day $100. Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, U. S. Minister to China, has, it is understood, been instrumental in curbing the financial appetites of his colleagues who favored much larger compensation. An agreement is expected between the members of the Diplomatic Corps and the Peking Government.

A conference on Chinese capitulations (extraterritorial rights for foreigners in China), which was to have been held three months after the Washington Conference (terminated February 6, 1922), was further postponed to November 1, at the request of the Chinese Government.

Matters political in Peking are said to have come to an impasse, It is impossible to collect a majority to elect a new President or to complete the Constitution, which is to replace the Provisional Constitution of Nanking (1911), owing to the Senate (Tsan Yi Yuan) and the House of Representatives (Chung Yi Yuan) not functioning and the desertions from the Cabinet, which normally contains ten portfolios.