Out ARTICLES now appear in the Chinese press indicate that the! supply of vice in Shanghai Decoming a serious preoceupa 'As the fighting appears to grow foreer, the question of our food supply' becomes more cute every' day' (says one paper). From lee dealer, it is. ascertained. that Wholesale Business at the Toeal rice! shops has been almost at a stand-Bill, The retail business done by ach of 30 und more larger tice shops in the Settlement in peaceful times used. to average over 200 piculs per day, or say over 7,000 Dieuls in' all." As the war has cauied a considerable. influx of refugees from the surrounding districts into the Settlement, the. quantity of sales has nearly: doubled 'Meanwhile the war area widens and therewith supply tends to' diminish, Boats sent to Sung-Kiang for rice have been com mandeered for military duty, so that now boatmen refuse to go._ The paper quoted from says that) have no wish to appear peevish and obstructive. But to tax the! lower classes' "brown" rice appears inexcusable. Further, the regulations say that boats transporting" rice are to be given passes for safe conduct, But, according to the report of the boats seized at Sungkiang, this has been done, the passes appear to be ineffectual; and as; Sungkiang is within "Marshal Lu's lines, there can be no suggestion that, in allowing the boats safe conduct, one side or the other is benefitting the opponents' war chest. 'That difficulty, however, easily may arise in respect' of rice from other districts. The only solution, and it would certainly be a fair one from every point of view, is to drop the rice tax altogether.
It is a tradition that whatever state of war or lawlessness may prevail, the silver for the financing of the silk crop is allowed to pass unchallenged into the country and the boats which transport the silk. We have had practical evidence of this in recent years, notably in the' revolution of 1913, The foundation of this wise forbearance is, undoubtedly, that silk concerns the small man as much as the great, One need only go to Wusih, for instance, in the weeks preceding the silk season, to see that every cottayer, however lowly, keeps a few silkworms. How much more should freedom from taxation or obstruction be given to rice? Again, in the old days, whenever there was public disturbance of any kind, the: Emperor at once took steps to secure the people's supply of food.' The Republic cannot surely afford to have it said that it is less solicitous of public welfare in so vital a matter than] the Empire. Repeatedly. both Marshal Lu and Marshal Chi have made public statements to the effect that, while they are compelled to fight, they are most anxious that the war should cause the least possible distress to non-combatants and we may believe them, because they are both personally humane and politically sagacious. If the rice tax is taken off, the benefit to the Chinese all' round will be immense and the boon will assuredly not be forgotten. It is a case in which no plea of military necessity can weigh against political wisdom.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.