Oct, 17.
Wine the situation generally about Shanghai appeared to some extent easier yesterday, it still contains elements of much uncertainty, The detention of "Little" Hsu has removed the] chief cause of anxiety. There] appears no stormy petrel now!
the offing, who would be capable of rallying any Marshal Lu's scattered forces to} make a stand against Marshal Chi. Left to themselves, we do} not think that those forces will) break out, so long as they are fed, of which need the Chinese Chamber of Commerce is taking) eave, and have some shelter' over their heads, which, except} where the men have helped themselves to railway waggons, is a more uncertain matter. But! it cannot be ignored that the whole situation surrounding, Shanghai is in a thoroughly' unsettled condition. The men who dus themselves "in. beyond Markham Road bridge Wednesday are still there and are said to be much incensed with the Kiangsu troops, who] very gratuitously fired at them ut Nanziang station on Tuesday, inflicting some casualties, and ready to have a shot at them if they get the chance. The country also is full of troops of both sides and while the commanders of the Kiangsu regiments say that they have been sent in to keep order, it would hardly be surprising if at any moment] their presence were actually the cause of disorder.
Obviously it is impossible to} break up a line that has been held on the two sides by perhaps eighty or ninety thousand men, especially when those of the one side are left without responsible commanders or any idea of what is to become of them, and expect the country to settle down again in two or three days. Time and patience are equally necessary. <But much would be done both to restore public confidence and for the general apoisement, if communi¢ations could be ope e¢ up again throughout the province and to Hangchow both by railway and creek... The Shanghai-Nanking Railway at Toast has not suffered so badly that through running might not restored with a very few hours' Labour, and although the bridges on the Hangchow Railway were much. more seriously smashed-and will teke months to rebuild properly, we may imagine that temporary bridges might "be managed in a few days. Meanwhile passengers would not object to being ferried' over, where trains cannot cross.
As regards launch traffic on the reeks, we suppose that the principal difficulty is the boatmen's fear of being held up and their boats commandeered by' parties of leaderless men. Th might surely be met by giving them escorts; and this. would, furthermore, provide employment for soldiers now freed from the. trenches and more or less at a loose end. All these matters, of are in Marshal Chi Hsieh-hands, and we would to urge him to give early attention to them. When people can move about freely and trains and boats can be run again to a definite even though restricted time-table, most of the present causes of anxiety will disappear.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.