A Grand Gesture

Dr. Wellington Koo, Acting Foreign Minister (in name the present ruler of China, because there is no President, only a fragment of a Cabinet, no Prime Minister, no Parliament and no likelihood of there being one), received a note from the Diplomatic Corps at Peking on the bandit incident of last May.* The note was signed by the U. S., Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba. The imposing document was delivered at the Chinese Foreign Office by Senhor Frei tas, Portuguese Minister to China and doyen of the Diplomatic Corps at Peking. It is difficult to see how the Powers can possibly expect Dr. Koo to take any satisfactory action on the note, because the country is actually in the hands of the Tuchuns --War Lords--and Dr. Koo himself is the head of a Government that hardly exists, much less governs.

The note is divided into three sections: damages, guarantees, sanctions.

Damages. Compensation is demanded for the foreign victims of the bandits' kidnaping coup. Damages to the extent of $8,000 for each person are claimed for losses incurred, deprivation of liberty and for sufferings and indignities to which they were subjected. Reim bursement of amounts expended in supplying relief to the victims is also claimed.

Guarantees. The Powers invite the Chinese Government to organize operations against bandits with the best troops and to take immediate steps to this effect through the agency of inspecting generals, military governors and others. They insist upon measures for the protection of railways and the formation of a special police force for this purpose. The note mentions that a plan for the new police force is now in preparation. The force is to be placed under the supervision of foreign officers.

Sanctions. The main demands under this heading are for the punishment of officials who are considered responsible for the bandit episode: General Tien Chung-Yu, Military Governor of Shantung; General Chang Wen-Tang, commander of the Puchow railway police; General Ho Feng-Yu, Defense Commissioner at Yenchowfu; Chao Te-Chao, officer commanding the guard on the train. All these persons are never again to be employed in the public service. The note also animadverts sharply on the lack of security for foreigners in China.

*In May the Shanghai-Peking train was held up near Tsinan, captial of Shantung Province, by bandits who kidnapped a number of foreign and Chinese passengers. On June 12, when the bandits accepted the Government's terms of an amnesty only eight foreigners remained in their hands, some having been freed, others having escaped. Of the eight liberated, four were U.S. citizens.