Conditions in this section have brightened considerably during the past two days. The soldiers had not been paid for two months and there was general unrest and talk of looting and all feel sure that had Chang Tso-lin been the victor in the north nothing could have prevented a repetition of the looting of 1911. During the, past ten days there have been nightly complaints of robbers in the city and immediate surrounding country. Last week a number of soldiers broke into a small house near the canal and badly cut the only man they found in there. The woman broke a hole through the rear of the house and ran to the canal and called the salt soldiers on one of the guard boats. They came up and captured seven soldiers, one escaping. Ropes were secured and the men tied up. The next morning the local general was notified. He sent for the men and later word came back that these were good soldiers and that a mistake had been made. Later, it has been reported that the people living near have been arrested and the blame put on® them, saying they were the real robbers and caught these soldiers to hide their Own work. It is needless to say that local opinion has become solid against our military leader.
Three days ago, in conversation with some soldiers, the question of robbing and looting was brought up. One of them said: "Of course we will loot, if our salaries don't come: haven't we got to live? We will be perfectly justified." Fortunately. for the time being this seems to be staved off.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.