Oct.
Now that the various famine relief organizations are marshalling their forces into something approaching effective order, and funds are coming in freely, the need for a central body to direct and. control relief" operations should be the next consideration by those actively interested. Coordination of effort should be the order of the day. Its importance has already been emphasized in the fact that a certain amount of uncertainty exists as to what relief work is actually in progress, and some indecision has been shown in the disposal of funds already available, the machinery for collection being for the present more effective than that of distribution. The formation of an influential and trustworthy central committee is therefore urgently necessary. It would simplify and add greatly the eflicieney of relief measures, and would above all ensure that relief funds ave properly and justly administered. There is a tendency, natural enough in the circumstances, in some quarters to watch all expenditure with the greatest caution, lest by chance funds inadvertently fall into an official pocket. For these reasons, therefore, an effort should be made to create a central body capable of directing the many scattered and more or less independent agencies engaged in relief work.
In the natural course of events the Government would be looked to for leadership. But the Government has no policy and the people have no faith in the Government. Its crass ineptitude in face of a crisis has never been more flagrantly demonstrated.
Its financial measures for famine relief are paltry in the- extreme compared with the needs of the occasion, and in the matter of practical' constructive measures it has achieved nothing more substantial than verbal inanities.
We have had rumours of the institution of Government relief works on road and railway, of hurried instructions having been en with regard to the purchase and distribution of grain, of orders to provincial authorities to purchase rice, even of a sympathetic intention to distribute old military uniforms among the hungry Tonanese! What the public awaits now with urgent interest i a declaration of policy which ill show the Government to be aware that the north is faced with ''one of the -most serious calamities in the history modern China," and that it ly devoid of the adbility and public spirit necessary for coping with the situation. It is an occasion for calling a brief truce in the miserable game of politics with which Peking normally amuses itself. Time enough for the resumption of these fatal follies when the hungry have been fed.
The question arises, however, whether there is any real ground for supposing that the Government is really capable of dealing adequately with the problem now confronting it. Considering all the circumstances, to expect it to produce a thoroughly practical and comprehensive scheme, and more than that, to be able to provide the necessary machinery for its effective operation, would be rather like expecting it perform an administrative miracle. The Government is obviously and hopelessly unprepared. With the usual phenomenon of a depleted Treasury, and the whole administrative organization vitiated by political antagonism and duplicity, is it to be wondered that the Government finds itself without men and without means to meet the crisis? Recently, a Peking correspondent reported that, with very few exceptions, a negligible quantity, all the important and lucrative posts are in the hands of the Old-Timers, grasping for power and fat sinecures, and supported in their disastrous political and financial dishonesty by crowds of "hangers on.' Is it possible, is it desirable to look in this direction for any broad policy of relief and reconstruction, energetic and unquestionably honest? Tt is extremely probable that the bulk of the work will fall upon private enterprise, assisted by a few conscientious and energetic officials. There is no ground for supposing that Peking will surpass itself in anything but culpable negligence. If the Government does eventually display any real, practical sense of ils grave responsibility, we shall be agreeably surprised. As for the starve ing people, they may at least have the pleasure of hoping that the Government will, as we hear, seriously consider"' the situation with a view to prompt action being taken—should another famine arise- in future years. Meanwhile, ''the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.""
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.