The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 24, 1926, Page 9

—_ “The Chief of Police By THURBER LEWIS, American system of municipal government hag given rise to the existence of a very strange créature. He ts called chief of police, He has no “mandate from the people.” He ts appointed. But his powers are large. They are the powers of police—which, when boiled down, means the power _of military, < ‘When this appears the 33rd national convention of the International Asso- ciation of Chiefs of Police will be ad- journing after a four-day session in Chicago. Police chiefs and superin- tendents from all over the land as- sembled at the Congress Hotel osten- sibly to confide secrets of the under- world, exhibit the latest weapons of offense and defense, talk of extradi- “tion methods, fingerprinting, traffic safety and the innumerable other sor- “@id things that make up the business “of a policeman, ~*~ Over ‘a> quiet bottle, some of the “more red-nosed and honest will con- fide other things: “How’s the graft im your burg?” perhaps. For it is no secret that chiefs of police are so very close to the underworld that is their perennial quarry that it is hard Wot to get contaminated, so to speak. It seems to have become an integral part of the occupation of police chief- ing to issue denials of graft to the annoying yellow press as fast as the handouts come in from the protected. You don’t have to live in Chicago to know that with very few exceptions, if there are any at all, municipal gov- _ ernment in the United States reeks with graft, bribery and protection. Well, chiefs of police are the so-called directors of the military arm of mu- nicipal government. You can fancy what a crew collected at the Congress Hotel. But chiefs of police have. another, far more significant, far more social, mission. They are the busiest and most effective strike-breaking agents in the country. ape don’t have to go into the theory of the state as a ¢elass institution to realize what part the police play in the game. All you have to do is to watch the development of any strike im any city that has police. As soo! as the workers are out the chief gets a phone call from the boss of whatever Place they walked out of. Before you can say Jack Robinson a formidable detail of bluecoats is on the job. What are they there for? Why, pro- tecting property, that’s all. Guess again. They are there to intimidate, club and jail the striking workers, They are performing, under orders from their chief, the social mission of police under capitalism, protecting the interests of the capitalists, the owners and subduing by force the faintest signs of rebellion among the workers, those who own nothing, the wage- slaves, By E. GUY. O, hear their song!, The workers! The workers are coming; All will rise— The men of the soil, the men that toll; An endless line A surging mass, the working class; in every land—~ ’ The millions strong will join their song; From every clime— Yellow, black, and white will stand and fight, You will hear them march — It won't be long, they will sing their song, The forward march— There will be no retreat, no—never a defeat, The workers are coming— 0, hear their song. China Begins to Struggle | bes 1900 czarist Russia be- gan to encroach upon Man- churta more agrossively than before. The Angilo-Japanese alliance of 1902 was formed in order to cause Russia to modify her position, Finally in 1904 the Russo-Japanese war broke out, owing ‘to the conflict of imperialist inter- ests in Manchuria. It was ended im the treaty of Ports. mouth, 1905, by which Rus- sia abandoned to Japan Port Arthur, with other rights, and gave up her attempts upon South Manchuria and Korea. Thus Russia only re- tained her right in North Manchuria, and Japan has become the successor of the exploiter in North and South Manchuria, The latter has also been ranked since then as one of the great powers in the world. In 1910 she annexed Korea, a former de- pendency of China. In 1912 the Russian gov- ernment made a treaty with the local government of Mon- golia, promising to assist the latter in becoming indepen- dent of China, In 1914 the British government urged China not to station any troops in Tibet, and not to interfere with its govern- mental affairs. In the same year Japan secured by force possession of Kiaochow, with the promise to ‘turn it to China after the end of the European -war. It was not until the last few years that Japan fulfilled her promise. In 1915 she demanded new privileges in Easter Inner Mon- golia, in Fukien province and in the Yangtse valley. She also demanded that in the future China give no con- cessions on her coasts to any. foreign power without the consent of Japan, and that China take for herself Japan- ese advisers and Japanese policemen. Since there was no justification fer the making of these demands what- ever, they simply antagonized the Chi- nese and provoked anti-Japanese movements. Thug in 1920 the stu- dents’ demonstration took place thru- out the country. This was the second great movement, which was better or- ganized than the first one in 1900, and -was free from violent attacks upon foreigners. In May, 1925, the employers of a Japanese cotton mill in Shanghai caused the shooting of Chinese labor- ers. One was shot dead and many others were wounded. On May 30, the workers, the students and busi- ness men made a demonstration in order to make that event known to the world. When the parade was marching on into the settlement, the British police fired at the demonstra- tion with guns and revolvers, regard- less of the unarmed mass, This was the Shanghai massacre, May 30, 1925. Demonstrations and parades against imperialism, following the massacre, took place everywhere thruout China. This was the third great mass move- ment agaist imperialism in Chinese history. Summary of the Losses of China Under Imperialism Since 1842. T China has lost or suffered from imperialism may be sum- marized as follows: ‘a. Four dependencies lost: Indo- China, Burmah, Korea, a part of Siam. b. Five outright cessions: Hong- kong, Kowloon-wan, Macao, Formosa, and a territory north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri rivers. c, Five leaseholds: Port Arthur, Talien, Welhalwel, Kwanchowwan, the Peninsula of Kowloon, d, Thirteen international settle ments and eighteen special areas con- trolled by a single foreign power, ©, Jurisdiction over foreigners is lost under the name of extraterrito- riality, ft. Tariff control is lost under the name of treaty tariff, or conventional tariff, g. The right to fortify certain strategic points is lost. FENG YU-HSIANG, Commander of First People’s Army. h. Other economic rights ceded, such as the right to build railways, to open mines and so on, Hence China’s territorial integrity is impaired, her administrative integ- rity is broken, her economic freedom of action is restricted, and her na- tiom&l» resourc@és are exploited. All thes@» are contributions of imperial- ism. Economic Consequences of Imperial- ism on China, China from 1842 to 1860 was the starting period of imperialism; from 1860 to 1900 was its period of entrenchment, and from 1900 to the present time it is defending its acqui- sitions. The so-called open-door pol icy is none other than a policy of de fending the interests of imperialistic powers in China. The above facts of what imperialism has done to China already indicate the results. But some specific consequences need to be mentioned. a. Economic consequences of treaty tariff. Since the tariff rate was fixed at 6 per cent ad valorem, all goods are taxed alike without regard as to imports and exports, or nature of goods. For instance, opium should be heavily taxed, or be entirely forbidden to be imported, The taxes on ex- ported silk and tea should be reduced; those on food supply during a period of famine should be highly increased. All this cannot be done under the treaty tariff system. Consequently we have no means to develop industry and to protect it. Nor can we bal- ance our food supply, Furthermore, since the customs ad- ministration has been unfier the con- trol of foreigners and since the salt gebelle has been under the custody of foreign powers, all customs duties and salt gobelle which have been collected have always been deposited in a Brit- ish bank, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, only 2 per cent interest being paid to the Chinese government. Thus the circulating capital or fund in the Chinese money market is greatly de- creased, Business men suffer from this money scarcity, The interest rate of Chinese bank loans is from 10 to 15 per cent, while the British bank can lend Chinese government deposits to foreign merchants at 3 or 4 per cent interest, It goes without saying that the cost of the Chinese business men is far greater than that of foreign business men th China. Under such a condition, how can the former compete with the latter? To say nothing of justice and injustice, the objective facts show how impe- By Sherman H. M. Chang rialism is strangling Chinese economic life. There is still something more. According to the rate of 5 per cent ad valorem we find out that duties on im. ported and exported goods in 1918 were still based on the value of the. identical goods estimated in 1868, In a pes iod of fifty years the prices remained the same. In China there is a transit tax, called likin. This tax is levied on goods transported from city to city. According to the tariff treaty, a surtax of 2% per cent is levied at the custom house in fieu of likin and all other internal taxes. Thus all the import ed goods have special ex- emptions, as compared with all native goods. This is an- other instance of destroying Chinese business. b. Meonomic consequene- es of the most-favored-nation | clause. The most-favored- nation clause ordinarily means a reciprocal favor or benefit given to one another by two parties to a treaty; but this phrase applied to China has a different mean- ing. Kt is a one-sided favor given by China to the second party. It implies a recipro- city, not between China and the second party, bat be tween the second and all third parties. That és, a third party can follow the second party to demand an identical favor from China. For example, the Chino-American treaty of 1880 provided that the Amer- ican steamers and steamboats shall be taxed the same as those of the Chinese and other foreigners. In 1890 the Chinese. government tried to Te, duce the taxes on Chim steamers,; but the British, basing their reason on the Chino-American treaty, protested against this reduction. Again, China once made a treaty with Japan per mitting the Japanese to pursne the business of manufacturing in China. Owing to the most-favored-nation principle, China could not refuse to allow other foreigners to do the sama ce. Economic consequences of ex tra-erritoriality, International settle ments and foreign jurisdiction are based upon extra-territoriality. Hence foreigners can build factories on Chi- nese soil. In addition to their great amount of capital and great industrial skill, they enjoy the privilege based on treaties, which the Chinese them- selves do not have, The spheres of influence are sup- ported by the institution of extra-ter ritoriality. Owing to the spheres of influence the powers have supported or prolonged the civil war in China) since 1912, for each power assists the military leader in its sphere of in- fluences in fighting against the other, by furnishing him munitions and guns and loaning him funds in order to get resources for security, T has been said above is not complete, for it requires far more space to make an exhaustive study on this subject. Now we may draw the following conclusions: Since 1842 the powers have imposed by force upon China unequal treaties by which they have got political and economic control. Thru this control they have checked Chinese industrial development and made China a mere market for their goods as well as a mere supplier of résources, or mate- rials, In other words, China has been forced to be an international market and an international colony. Conse- quently the Chinese business men have become bankrupt; the handt- craftsmen and unskilled laborers have become unemployed. All these have contributed to the increase of pov- erty and starvation of the masses and to the prolongation of civil war, Since the Chinese are human crea tures, they must make some response to such heavy oppression, Our first response was the Boxer movement, our second response was the students’ movement of 1900; our third response was the mass. movement of 1926,