Supporting the warriors is an army of ubout 1,500,000 scattered throughout the country.. In -addition there are approximately 1,000, 000 armed bandits roaming the proinees, who ure usually in some way affiliated with down to a corporal. He is, as a rule, physically a hardy man, keenwwitted, a good soldier, but unversed and. Unletiered. The commanding officer is usually a graduate of a Chinese or Japanese military school. The fighting officer has tual authority. over' the "soldiers. He has obtained his position as a result of the confidence of his men
usually caretply considered from and his appeintmene "is canigetet at the rogerd cording to Chinese tradition, expected to be ignorant and brave, for why would an intelligent mai 'educated and well placed, risk his life in such a debasing pastime as war? Of course, there are a few fighting officers who have improved their opportunities and they are making' headway against the pre-Jjudices.to their rising to the top.
The Old-Divisions The. commanding officer counts his strength in accordance with the number of fighting officers who may be loyal to him. Wa Pei-fu's units have hitherto been effective because hho had gathered about him hundreds of these old fighting officers and being himself brave and a good fighter, he was able to command their aspect and loyalty more readily than some of his oppose The 10th and 4th Diisions under Lu Yung-hsiang and the 6th Division under Chi Hsieh-yuan did the best fighting in the Shanghai area ring the recent war. The 3rd Division under Wu Pei-fu and the Sth under Cheng Hsih-chi of Shantung, together with the 10th, th and 6th are old divisions inherited from the Machang Training Camp created by Yuan Shih-kal. In these divisions many sergeants may be found who were trained in the days when Yuan Shih-kai, Feng Kuo-chang and Tuan Chi-jui commanded China's model army, the Pel-[yang Army. The possession of one of those old divisions makes factor in China's political affairs.
The bandit chief is usually the same type of man as the fighting officer of these old divi country. That the militarists are disorganized obvious and the details of such disorganization need not be repeated, bhut the bandits are now also in state of decomposition. Formerly, bandit' chieftains were sufficient in number and were adequately train-to control and direct the small groups of tufei under' their hered-_ itary authority, but the rapid: disintegration of China's armies through enforced or voluntary disbandment has go inereaed the number of bandits that the old chieftains have been unable to organize and command the rapidly enlarging bandit units. Very much like most of the generals in China's army, the bandit chiefs find that they are not trained or equipped to handle large fighting units. This disin-Me regration of both "legitimate" mili tary groups and bandit. units is causing alarm in military and government circles. For those in power find that the lower they go in their organization the less evident does their own control of it Childhood" these men taught to honour loyalty ard other vittaes 'a cliarddter of the classics, but they can quote chapters on the virtue of filial piety and all that it connotes to the Chinese mind. These fighting officers and bandit chiefs keep their promises and do their work, pay or no pay, so long as they are certain that their particular commanding officer is doing the best he can by them. Lu Yung-hsiang, Tsao Kun, Wa Poifu and others of that type knew how to handle these men. The number of commanding officers who can command the respect of the fighting officers is dwindling, for loyalty can. only be for him who is loyal and faithful, and the politico-militarists who are slowly but surely coming into control of China's army have ud appreciation of the "inherent. virtues which they so strongly advocate in others. An example such that displayed by Feng Yuhsiang can upset the traditions of appear, and therefore every military man in the land, without exception, is uncertain of the loyalty and character of his own organization.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.