There was considerable criticism of the continuation of the surtaxafter the famine was over. The excuse given was that it was for thepurpose of accumulating a famine prevention fund， but it was generallyknown that this tax on industry and imports was used for the purposeof assisting the Government to meet some of its liabilities， and that itamounted to what in common parlance is called “squeeze.”
The Retirement of Dean WalkerDuring the year occurred the retirement of Dean A. J. Walker，who had served the Cathedral for twenty years. A farewell meetingwas held in the Cathedral School for Boys on April 8th，at which timea handsome casket， containing an address signed by the members ofthe congregation， was presented to him. As Dean， he had done muchfor the Cathedral and for the people of Shanghai. He had built up theCathedral Schools， introduced a boy choir， improved the fabric of theCathedral， and raised a fund for the purchase of the new organ.
Passing of Some Prominent CitizensThe deaths of some prominent citizens in 1920 call for more thana passing mention. First was that， on January 18th， of Mr. GeorgeLanning， who for many years had been headmaster of the ShanghaiPublic School. After his retirement he had been occupied in writinga voluminous history of Shanghai， but did not live long enough tocomplete it.
Then came the death of Mr. E. Jenner Hogg， February 26th， atthe age of 83. He came out in 1857， and had been in Shanghai for 63
years. His memory went back to the early days of the Settlement， andthe time of the Taiping Rebellion. During the latter eventful periodhe was one of the Mounted Rangers who scoured the country aroundShanghai to gather information as to the movement of the rebels.
He purchased and developed the spacious grounds at Unkaza，which now form a part of the campus of St. John"s University.
For many years he was Chairman of the Parks committee of theInternational Settlement.
The death of Mr. T. R. Jernigan occurred on November 1st. Hecame out to Shanghai as United States Consul-General in 1893， and atthe close of his term of office took up the practice of law and continuedto live in the Settlement. He was interested in all civic affairs， and wasalso a sportsman and the author of several interesting books on China.
Labour Unrest
Signs of unrest were noted among the labouring classes， and therewere evidences of Bolshevistic propaganda. The following table inregard to strike movements for the years 1918-1924， is an indicationof the new economic problems introduced into the industrial life ofShanghai.
Year. Strikes. Strikers. Work days lost.
1918 13 15，000 90，000
1919 25 24，000 245，000
1920 45 57 ，088 3 25，401
1921 36 22，000 195，800
1922 7 1 65 ，000 7 28，010
1923 5 1 23，500 118，939
1924 6 0 37 ，435 289，630
Among the chief causes we may note the high price of rice，the depreciation of copper coins， the revolt against discipline in thefactories， and labour agitation carried on by the Trades Unions and theStudents Unions.
Visit of Mr. T. W. LamontMr. Thomas W. Lamont， of J. P. Morgan and company， visitedthe East during 1920 in the interest of the Consortium formedby an International Banking Group of Great Britain， the UnitedStates， France and Japan. His object was to make a survey of thefinancial conditions of China， with a view to ascertaining how farthe Consortium could be of use in furnishing China with loans forconstructive purposes. The Consortium was not popular in China，as it was feared that the Government would secure loans for militarypurposes， and that loans， over which the Consortium would exercisea measure of control， would violate in some way the sovereign rightsof China. At the end of the year Mr. F. W. Stevens arrived in Shanghaias representative of the American Banking Group. Mr. Stevens triedto remove misunderstandings in regard to the real object of theConsortium， but was unable to arouse any great enthusiasm. Largelyowing to the disturbed conditions in the country， the Consortium wasunable to carry out its well-devised plans of furnishing China withfinancial assistance for internal development.
