July The appeal issued by General Chiang Kai-shek to the younger, generation in North China for, faith in and support of the National Government throws important light on the relations of Nanking and the North, It indicates that the issue with General Feng Vu-hsiang is but a symptom of much deeper forces at work. General Chiang complains that small cliques have been formed and slogans bandied about to the embarrass. ment of the National Govern. ment and with too little regard for its difficulties, This append is accompanied by signs of intensive repression of public opinion, In a recent interview with the United Press Peking correspondent, General Chiang said that his visit to Peking had opened his eyes to the activities of the Reorganizationists, and, we are told, "he made it very clear that his Government could not permit any party of the sor! this new group was, to get strong footing in China," Foreign correspondents, he went of, must be careful to write nothing that might hamper the building up of a strong government, T) a representative of Toho, the Japanese news agency, General Chiang is reported to have said that a censorship would be enforced: "newspapers may criticize the National Government but shall not attack it." Simul taneously comes the news of 9 bun put upon "The Welfare of the People," a paper edited by the Tientsin Kuomintang.
There can be nothing but agreement with General Chiang's ambition to build up a_ strong central government, It is what everyone has been crying for for the past eighteen years, Bu on the method adopted to that end there may be wide differenc: of opinion, Frankly we think that Nanking has embarked on a perilous path in its resolve to repress public criticism, for that is what it really comes to, the distinction between criticism and attack being almost impossible to define and at all times subject to arbitrary interpretation by the men in power. The mand for the deportation of Mr. Hallett Abend has undoubtedly caused a bad impression America where the "New York Times" is looked upon as a national institution and the members of its staff enjoy proportionate prestige in the public eye. And this one fact is likely to weigh more with the Ameri can editors now visiting Chi than many plausible speeches. But for the moment we are
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.