Overcoming the Famine and Making Roads Reuter's correspondent at Taiyuan fu writes:
Good rain has fallen throughout-Shansi during the last 10 days,.- which has enabled the famers 10 sow their autumn crops, and which will help to produce a good crop vf wheat within the next month. As far as one can see there will be no famine to report in this province this year.
The Shansi Famine Relief Society is extending its road-making operations, continuing the road from Taiyuanfu to Chinssu on to Fenchowiu, thus connecting with the road, built by the American Red Cross, from Fenchowfu to the Yellow River. This will complete' a good road from the Yellow River at Hochu to the capital, a distance of over 100 miles. It is planned io macadamize the stretch from Taiyuanfu to Chinssu in the hope that eventually the whole of the provincial motor-roads will macadamized. Unless that is done, heavy motor traffic will be impossible. Famine labour is to be used for all these projects.
The graduating classes in engineering in the Shansi Government University are visiting Peking and Tientsin, inspecting engineering workshops and other places of practical interest. These tours inspection have been the practice of the University for several years.
Trarric ly Morpata.
Trafic in morphia pills and opium is on the increase in Shansi in many centres. The pills are being manufactured locally but large stocks are being imported from Chili and Honan. Wealthy families are. being totally ruined by the evil and corruption among officials and the police is on the increase. Conditions in this respect are becoming rapidly worse and, unless altera measures of repression are soon taken, Shansi will be in a worse state than.she was in the old opium days. and so they looked. Better, I thought. than my own which I am just' gathering. Really! Those folk have-quite a fair share of what all Chinese (as well as other folk) desire, That character always. makes me think of a verso of Pope's.
"How blest is he whose only care 'A few paternal actes bound, Content tq breathe his native air.
-On his own ground."
As long as the men can dodge the soldiers they seem happy enough; but so often one sees Srailing woman whose man has been carried off. Otherwise in their own simple way they are happy. I have just heard to-day \that 2 Chinese Post Office employes whom I know very well has been robbed of a lot of his property while travelling from Chengin to take up 2 new post in Paoning.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.