Nanking, Mar. 7.
There is " story being circulated that is too good to keep. It is reported that General Chang Hsun received telegraphic instructions from President Yuan to have an eye upon General Feng, as the President was not altogether assured of his loyalty. General Chang, in order to get at the truth of the matter, came to Nanking, so the story goes, to see personally the man with whom he fought two and a half years ago in the taking of Nanking from the rebels and whose movements he was told to watch. Chang told Feng his instructions from the President and asked him what of it. When Feng Kuo-chang heard this he pulled out a communication from the President of exactly the same purport telling him carefully to watch Chang Hsun!
I cannot vouch for the story, but it is widely current and probably has some basis of fact in the relations of these prominent Kiangsu generals to each other. It is reported that the Nanking Chamber of Commerce has met and passed resolutions requesting the President to retain General Feng Kuo-chang in his present position. This is more than a compliment. It is a deserved tribute to General Feng's administration. Since he took charge after the tumultuous summer of 1913 he has conducted the affairs of the city with a minimum of disorder and with no small degree of efficiency.
An advanced copy of the Nanking Hand Book for 1916 has just come to hand and it contains not a few interesting facts with regard to the foreign community. In it we learn that there are of foreigners in Nanking 307 adults and 114 children. 421 in all. Of these some are on furlough and about 50 in the Language School. About 90, mostly adults, work in Hsiakuan or Pukow.
In addition to the list of missions and business firms, there is a bit of Chinese corrective and philanthropic institutions. These include 13 homes for aged and destitute adults, seven for poor and orphaned children, two indust schools, one rescue home and four prisons. Every visitor to Nanking will need a copy of this compact pamphlet of 56 pages published by the Nanking Association.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.