Aug. 20.
'THE most serious phase of the Shameen strike, or of any strike, is the period' when those in authority have completely lost control of their constituencies and are unable to enforce an agreement for settlement, After that, the strike usually settles down to a question of attrition, to a struggle for time. There can be no further compromise, in the circumstances. It is for one side or the other to lose.
It is for one side or the other to give in, Fortunately there has been no great delay in this conclusion being reached, as the latest telegram now shows.
Last week we were informed that terms had been reached and that the strike had been settled. The terms generally were favourable to the Chinese, their "faces" being saved on most issues. The Chinese merchant of the Shameen and Canton, who has been paying dearly for all the political activity which has settled on his city like a blight, was undoubted-satisfied with the conditions of the settlement. The strike was a matter of "face." On only tone point did the foreigners hold out, namely, on the dismissal of the Lukan, the police of the Shameen.
The foreigners contend that: the Lukan are policemen and are therefore required to abide by the semi-military discipline of municipal employers. According to this theory, a police strike is impossibility. A policeman, when he strikes, neglects his duty, deserts his post, endangers the city. He does not. strike, He deserts. The question has been fought out in other countries and in the highest courts. President Coolidge owes his present position principally to his attitude in the Boston police strike. He used the strongest possible measures to force the deserters back to their duty.
The Chinese, on the other hand, do not' recognize these men as police. They call them watchmen, Their very name indicates a watchman, "If then they are not. police but watchmen, the situation would quite different. But fs this not quibble over words? In the 18th century, were not all police called watchmen? Did not the watchman, who walked through the night, oxying "All is well," perform a police service? It is this endless quibble over - the definition of words, this play for time by mental—_gymnattics which confuses the masses. of the Chinese people and makes it possible for an articulate minority to enforce their will on a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.