893.102H/475
The Chargé in China (Mayer) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 12.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to despatches No. 1306 of July 17, 1926, and No. 1310 of July 21, 1926, from the Consulate at Harbin to the Legation,61 copies of which appear to have been forwarded to the Department, on the subject of the Harbin Municipal Government and to state that the Legation accords, in general, with the views expressed by Mr. Hanson with respect to the new Municipal Regulations which have been promulgated by the Chinese authorities in that city.
[Page 493]From an examination of these Regulations it would appear that if they were accepted by the extraterritorial Powers there would not accrue to the foreign nationals concerned any rights of substantial participation in the affairs of the Harbin Municipality, largely by reason of the fact that all actual power is concentrated in the hands of the Supervising authorities, who are Chinese, e. g. Articles 21 j, 33, 35, 56 and 60 of the Regulations. An acceptance of the Regulations would, in all probability, result in a considerable impairment of the treaty rights of American citizens without their obtaining any compensatory advantages.
The attention of the Department is also respectfully invited to the very general language used in Article 3 which specifies that
[“] … the privileges and obligations of the residents of the special city of Harbin … shall be governed by a Municipal Constitution to be adopted …”
An acceptance of these Regulations would, therefore, also possibly involve some commitment with respect to a constitution, the provisions of which have not yet been drafted and which is to be promulgated “with the approval of the Supervising Authorities concerned”. This might eventually create serious misunderstandings with regard to the treaty rights of American citizens.
The Legation appreciates that, with the growth of Chinese municipal governments, it will be both equitable, and increasingly necessary from a practical standpoint, to give careful consideration to the question whether we should not be liberally disposed to recognize the power of the Chinese to levy municipal taxes upon American citizens when adequate municipal rights are guaranteed them and appropriate municipal service is provided. At the same time the Legation believes that it would be inadvisable, and that it would form an undesirable precedent, if regulations such as those promulgated at Harbin not providing for a bona fide representative municipality were to be made binding upon American citizens.
In view of the foregoing considerations, it is suggested that Mr. Hanson be authorized to inform the Chinese authorities that the Regulations in their present form are unacceptable to the American Government, advising them, in so far as he may deem appropriate, of the particulars in which they are unsatisfactory. In the meantime it would seem to be practicable to adopt as a modus vivendi either of the courses indicated by Mr. Hanson, namely: “an understanding … whereby taxes provided for in the budget should first receive the consent of the extraterritorial consuls before they could be assessed on their respective nationals”, or an arrangement whereby “municipal taxes in the form of voluntary contributions can be paid, either directly or through the consulate, to the authorities with the [Page 494] understanding that unreasonable taxes or unreasonable amounts will not be paid”. With respect to the first course, it is to be noted, however, that there would not seem to be any authority for the Consul to make such assessments as he might approve of binding in a legal sense upon American citizens.
It has been recently ascertained that both the British and Japanese Legations are maintaining the attitude that the new regulations should not be accepted as legally binding upon their nationals and prefer that, pending a definite solution of the question, reasonable taxes should be paid in the form of voluntary contributions.
It is requested that the Legation be informed briefly by telegraph of the Department’s views in order that Mr. Hanson may be able to take appropriate action before the date when the Regulations are to be made effective.
I have [etc.]
- Neither printed.↩