Sep. 3.
Mven has been heard concerning disarmament in China during the past year, and doubtless we shall go on hearing more. Protestations there have been in plenty that the officials have an ardent desire to reduce the cumber some army which at present helps to drain the country's resources, and loans have been suggested and discussed for the purpose., Only last week we were told that disarmament had _actually taken place of a consideraable number of troops, and, making a rough calculation based on text-book figures, we found that the total dispersed should have come to between 50,000 and 100,000 men. Of course, as China is a non-statistical country and we seldom hear anything about the Adjutant-General's department of the Chinese Army, or its equivalent, these figures meant a lot of guesswork. Moreover, the troops said to be disbanded were the defeated supporters of Anfu, but in spite of the obvious existence of ulterior motive in their dispersion, the act was to be welcomed, provided one condition were observed— that they were not turned loose to prey upon the civilian population. No word there was of any scheme for recruiting them as industrial units, and one could only hope that Peking had not been again guilty of the folly which has raised in the country so fine a crop of banditti. But hardly did we read that this disbandment had occurred and that it was a preliminary step towards a greater scheme, than the Tungchow mutiny broke out. The disclosures which have followed have not made palatable reading, and taken in conjunction with General Chang Tso-lin's recent interview with foreign correspondents they must support the sceptics in their view that China will never undertake anything but a until has The brigade which mutinied at Tungchow belonged to the Northwest Frontier Defence Force; twice, it is said, reports were given out of its disarmament; but when the looting of the city occurred it was stated that it had been kept intact in order that it might be absorbed in the Manchurian Tuchun's army. Little wonder that public indignation has been aroused in the north. Even if General Chang Tso-lin is entirely innocent of complicity in these doings—and of course his name may simply have been put forward to cover up the misdemeanours of somebody less powerful and accordingly more liable to punishment for a very grave offence—the business is so flagrant that it would cast suspicion upon even the most benevolent of governments. No set of officials could hope to re-their record for integrity were a case of this kind allowed to go uninvestigated and the cul-its unpunished. Yet up to the present—and many days have elapsed since the incident—no mention has been made of investigation or punishment, and such being the case all disbandment proposals, past, present or [future, must now be received with more caution and more qualms of doubt than ever. This feeling, also, is emphasized by the attitude of General Chang Tso-lin towards disarmament, He gives the principle his blessing, and then quietly mentions that, of course, it cannot apply to Manchuria, as he is short of troops there. His 300,000 men are insufficient to meet the military necessities of his command, so they must be increased. But, as disbandment should be carried out according to the size of the province," there are many parts of China, General Chang has doubtless concluded, which could be deprived of numbers of their troops without impairing their ability to maintain order. With all due respect to the ruler of Manchuria this interview only increases our dubiety about the whole scheme and suggests what may be expected to occur. Looking at the personal jealousy and. animosity which has actuated Tuchuns and their kind in dealings up to the present, we are unable to banish the thought that disarmament and disbandment if attempted in China's present frame of mind will be little oe
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.