Students Oust President and Teachers Strike From Our Own Correspondent, Chenchow, Hu., May 17.
The weary waiting for enough water to plough the fields has now given way to earnest desire for sunshine, enough to harvest the wheat, crop and save the other crops from actual drowning. Rain has fallen almost steadily for a week and there seems no immediate prospect, of stopping. Rice went up in price because of the drought and now it is going up again in price because of the excess of rain.
Rumours of organized robbery is coming in from different places. At Kiaho, the city gates were kept closed for days and the usual markets were not held within the city. People of wealth are taken captive and heavy ransoms are asked for their release. One young man and his wife were taken by a band of these armed robbers and the man was taken to the hills and $30,000 is asked for his release. This is terrifying the whole country and many who have property or money are leaving their homes.
The Middle School here in Chenchow has had a series of difficulties It is a Union affair and so there has always been a great deal of rivalry and jealousy connected with its administration. This year the president was a Hsingning man and he took it upon himself to discipline some of the Yunghsing students and there was a rebellion. They arose and cast out the President and then the teachers struck and the school has closed. About half of the students remain but no classes are being held. There is seemingly no way to settle the trouble but to disband the school and let each county take its own funds and organize its own High Schools.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.