Dec. 21.
The departure of the Soviet Consul-General and his. staff from Shanghai, which has been announced to take place to-day, offers a lesson tv all foreign countries in the proper method of maintaining permanent. relations with the Chinese people, It was in 1923 that Soviet Russia determined to select one party in China, cne group of Chinese leaders, and to attempt through them to rule China and er who was recently in China, negotiating a loan to the South, pleased tu see No. 1 Whangpoo willing workers who are unem-\d_ closed and' the Russian ficulties, goes on with little to use it as the spring board for Manchuria Railway—the end of which is not yet—gave a modified support to Sir Frederick' optimism, The help contemplated by the ce-optimists at the banquet was in the nature of loans to China to enable her to develop her untouched resources and to create or develop means of communication throughout the country. There is nothing new in these suggestions although they, doubtless, sounded new to the audience addressed; they have been: the commonplaces of talks on china for the past fifty years, The first difficulty in the way application of these prin-to China is the lack of a ional government. Sir Austen Chamborlai said:—'You cannot negotiate with anarchy," and it is self-evident that no constructional work of any kind can take place until the present war is ended. The leaders of the Nationalist Party would, probably, say that they recognize this fact and assert that. their's is a war to end war; when the end is attained then reconstruction will begin. We believe they are si cere in their belief that they, can, by force of arms, subdue all opposition and initiate a new and. better regime: in China. But we would ask them to reflect on the fact that war begets war. A dispute ended by violence is apt to be reopened by violence, There is no more expensive or futile way of settling a controversy than by fighting over it. If the present war is waged for a principle, the leaders of the opposing factions would draw nearer to an agreement after half an hour of conference together than they will by years of fighting. Militarism, no matter what it carries, is still militarism ployed; witness the stream of emigrants from the north pouring into Manchuria and the equally large number from. the: south seeking their fortunes overseas. If the industrial problem were tackled at once. on a scale commensurate with' the vastness of! the area to be dealt with and the riches of its latent resources a very large proportion of the idle population which now finds its way into the ranks of the swollen armies or, worse sti joins the bandits who terrorize] the districts free from military domination, would find productive employment and become an Asset instead of a menace, It} is a pity that Dr. Sun did not put the people's livelihood in the forefront of his book instead of at the end. Of what use is a vote ta.a hungry man whose immediate problem is that of providing food for himself and his family? He is asking for bread and the politicians offer him atone. Life is so hard for him that he is like an animal at bay, ready to attempt any desperate course that will promise him relief from the intolerable situation in which circumstances, through no fault of his own, have placed him. 'This is China' real problem and the man who} will make an honest attempt to solve it will deserve better of his country than all the generals of all the armies now devastating the land,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.