Peking, June 28. is reported from Chinwangtao that Wu Pei-fu's forces on the Peking-Mukden Railway are preparing for a speedy and wholesale withdrawal. According to the local press there are' 1,500 cars readiness and the Chihli commanders are prepared to move 5,000 men a day. At the same time word comes from Paotingfu that the general himself is about to return to Loyang. This means complete military withdrawal with peace barely established and a complete political withdrawal with the reorganization of the government barely under way. It is not the conventional thing to do.
not what either Wu Pei-fu's friends or his enemies expected from him. But it is consistent with his policy, which is big policy, and shows great sagacity on the one hand and a_ profound faith in the saner trend of Chinese thought on the other hand. As long as: there is a militarist in or about Peking, patronizing or exploiting the government, either with good or evil intent, there is a ready excuse for revolution. Arms in Peking invite every ambitious soldier outside Peking to take up arms, declare his independence, and make a demonstration of carrying his arms to the capital, which in turn gives him an excuse for an armed occupation of whatever area his soldiery happen to be in. When the only militarist in a position to dominate the national government walks away from the capital and says: "It isn't mine, it's the nation's.", he removes the last apology for revolution and discredits any armed politician who still insists upon sulking in his corner.
No Excuss ror Revouvrion.
The restoration of the principal figures in the recognized Government which fell in the spring of 1917, has made absurd the pretensions of many political factions. Bogus causes, insincere slogans, bandit raids camouflaged as crusades, suddenly appeared in their true'light and were either silly or wicked in the sight of the nation. Hsu Shih-chang and Sun Yat-sen came tumbling down and the Yangtze Tuchuns commence scurrying around in their balli. wicks like sheep in a corral who smell the flood coming. Then they, gained courage from the fact that Wu Pei-fu was still in Paotingfu and that certain elements in the new makeshift Government in Peking claimed to be Wa Pei-fu's particularly patronized elements. Peking was still a Government under military patronage. Tt was still a disguised dictatorship. This in itself would furnish any Tuchun with a cause for perpetuating revolution, disruption and the special privileges which 10 years of such conditions have "bestowed upon the Tuchunate. The character of the Government under Wu_ Pei-fu's patronage would furnish them with further and better causes. Any Govbrnment under military patronage is bad. Any civil official under military patronage is bound to take advantage of his immunity from the competition of the policital rivals and go bad. There are many men in this temporary Government against whom it would be easy to arouse the animosity of the nation. Their presence in the capital under the patronage of arms assures every Tuchun who likes hig job and desires to sit tight a splendid excuse for refusing to recognize Peking and for carrying on in the conventional fashion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.