unced by the people it professed to
govern. In comparison with the relatively crude methods of Japan in
Shantung, they show the advantages of wide business experience.

As for the circumstances and context which give added menace to the
contract, the following facts are significant. Hong Kong, a British
crown colony, lies directly opposite the river upon which Canton is
situated. It is the port of export and import for the vast districts
served by the mines and railways of the province. It is unnecessary to
point out the hold upon all economic development which is given
through a monopolistic control of coal. It is hardly too much to say
that the enforcement of the contract would enable British interests in
Hong Kong to control the entire industrial development of the most
flourishing of the provinces of China. It would be a comparatively
easy and inexpensive matter to provide the main land with a first
class modern harbor and port near Canton. But such a port would tend
to reduce the assets of Hong Kong to the possession of the most
beautiful scenery in the world. There is already fear that a new
harbor will be built. Many persons think that the concession of
building such railways etc., "as are deemed advisable for the purpose
of the business of the company and to improve those now existing" is
the object of the contract, even more than the coal monopoly. For the
British already own a considerable part of the mainland, including
part of the railway connecting the littoral with Canton. By building a
cross-cut from the British owned portion of this railway to the
Hankow-Canton line, the latter would become virtually the Hankow-Hong
Kong line, and Canton would be a way-station. With the advantages thus
secured, the project for building a new port could be indefinitely
blocked.

During the period in which the contract was being secured, a congress
of British Chambers of Commerce was held in Shanghai. Resolutions were
passed in favor of abolishing henceforth the whole principle of
special nationalistic concessions, and of cooperating with the Chinese
for the upbuilding of China. At the close of the meeting the Chairman
announced that a new era for China had finally dawned. All of the
British newspapers in China lauded the wise action of the Chambers. At
the same time, Mr. Lamont was in Peking, and was setting forth that
the object of the Consortium was the abolition of further concessions,
and the uniting of the financia