are appearing these days at the conscription of coolies for war service, We read harrowing tales of poor! ricsha men and even shopkeepers and their clerks being caught and handcuffed or tied together with ropes:
if guarded by soldiers with bay-that are too frequently used goads for the laggards, and fnally, after days of toll being sent back with little or no remuneration. To {hose who witness these things for he first time they seem to be the essence of barbarism and cruelty' but T for one am frankly glad that this sort of thing has been brought right to the gates of Shanghai for exhibition, It will show the foreign-—-er who has rarely left the benign rule of Shanghai, something of what life in the interior always is, for we witness the same thing on a smaller scale a score of times in a single year. Better still it will show th Chinese inhabitants of Shang what *ix own country, which they 0 soon forget after a stay in Shang-Ina, is really like, soldier "has been pretty thoroughly bowled out, But as one whose work for 20 years has br him into daily contact with, observation of, both soldier and, coolie, I am' glad to present the other side of the picture. Tt may not be soothing to. Chinese, but after long observation of the perpetual struggle between the soldier and every member of the labouring classes of China, fairness compels me to state that it is a ease of dog eat dog.
Many expressions of indignation is not an egg in the village. Only a short while ago I stopped for a few days in a market town where company of soldiers was stationed. Not being well supplied. with food T sent out my cook to buy some eggs, but he brought back the word that' there was not an egg in the whole village. Local friends cot firmed the report but I was seep!
refusing to believe that' all the hens in that large district had gone ona strike. I called in one of my sequaintances and assured him that these eggs were for foreign consumption and that if the hens could be persuaded to lay a few for the sake of hospitality I was sure they would be rewarded. He disappeared for a short while but soon smuggled in the desired articles and I was the only man in town that night who had eggs for supper. consider a hungry soldier: meals. When he finds a village that he knows to be prosperous, suddé ly barren, he naturally make a di gent search and if he finds a handful of eggs after all the members of n shop or household have sworn to their non-existence, will he be expected to thank all the people present with a bow and prof the full market value of the eggs? Or will he walk off with them and m lect to pay? If in addition he wel to the skin and no person will lend him quilt or a maz ix he to wet cold night or tuke At the outset let it be said that after all cases are taken into account the demands of the Chines ment upon its labouring time of war are really insignificant. By the Chinese Government I mean not only the Central (2) government but provincial or county, or the will of any military official." The army gets a few thousand coolies, who are compelled to push wheelbarrows or carry loads for a few days: a few Hundred junks, sampans and ho boats are rounded up and kept to use for a week or two: but the vast Body of the population is absolutely untouched aad apart from the actual one of hostilities is not only uninterested in but ignorant of the conflict. 'Just compare this with our memori of the Into war, where every was subject' to the call of the state ind for which we are still paying id fair to be paying for another The first need of any war is trai portation, In foreign lands we simply te the railroads ray from owners and use them as we team, "Tie ser aounaly "steps motorcars on the road and takes: possession, giving a receipt which is poor enough comfort. The coolie is China's transport system and it is a wild dreamer who would expect to see him escape, Let us suppose for a moment that General Ho or Bei Pao-san was in need of immediate transport for 8,000 men. Let us suppose that they called a mass meeting of the citizens of the community and called for volunteers: or let them insert an ulvertisement in the daily press urging patriots to flock to the aid of their brethren in arms—how many would answer the call? T do not venture to say what would happen in the high-patriotic port of Shanghai, but T know perfectly well that such an veal would not bring forward a gle man of any description in Haichow. Not only would his call be negatived, but every man possessed. of a wheelbarrow or boat would scuttle away as fast and as ould travel. From a p: point the result would be fine, as the army would be left high and dvy, but for the generals in charge of n healthy war it would not be so pleasing. to be cheated, overcharged, and, if a dark corner makes it feast uble, knifed.
same is true not only for wrtat'on and fovistutfs but for everything that_ maxes up che life of the soldier. Shanghai knows nothing of what the humbly coolie jean do when he has a chanco to wield the whip hand, as competition there 8 so great and the Inbour market 0 inexhaustible. But if one lands at a little station where there are only a half dozen barrowman, all working in full accord, he is due to learn something right off the bat. No one rushes to receive baggage but before they move 4 hand they calmly begin to talk prices and lucky is the traveller who has to pay only double what the job ix worth. And after everything is loaded' up ways will be found to bedevil the victim and squeeze him for all he is worth. Some days ago a colleague and J were walking through town and met a jerowd of disgruntled barrowman herded along at the point of several very determined bayonets. I confessed to him my great joy at seeing these rufian coolies getting their merits at the hands of some who were so much rougher, and he likewise rejoiced. We had both suffered much from this same coolie gang and been forced time and again to apply for official protection against their rapacity and actual violence and it was a grim pleasure to see them forced into service. Having been gouged outrageously by them and again I cannot work up a sob at the thought of their getting nothing but their food for a day's work. T repeat that for soldier and coolie it is a case of dog eat dog.
"Student Soldiers."
There is another matter upon which Tam glad to give a warm appreciation and testimony. There
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.