Nov. 19.
It is not customary with us to enter into' controversies with' those of our readers who are good enough to contribute to our correspondence columns. We usually prefer to have controvert sial points settled between correspondents, if they can be set-tied at all, and to maintain an impartial aloofness, Mr. S. K, Chao's contributions, the second of which we published yesterday, are however of such unusual in-
Chinese he has a right to ask whether by Chinese is meant the noisy groups of opportunists who farm disorder for power or profit, or the great mass of their victims, Mr. Chao may laugh this, but we claim in all sincerity to be more pro-Chinese than any leader of the "Nationalist" movement of whom we have any knowledge.. It may not be our concern to make "face" for persors and organizations that have forfeited consideration, but we do lay claim to a sincere concern for the well being and peace of mind of the masses of the people, whom we genuinely admire and respect, but who seem incapable. as yet of organizing against misgovernment and official exploitaion. We usually find ourselves in the position of insisting that. the victims of what Mr. Chao calls China make up the only China worthy of our sympathy and support. And this we do not consider an anti-Chinese terest to all those who want to attitude, understand what the Chin who are now our outspoken critics, think of us, that we could not refrain from replying to his first letter on Pan-Asianism, nor can we overlook this second let ter which is in the nature of a reply to our comment upon the first, We take nothing so seriously in this letter of Mr. Chao's as As for Dr. Sun Yat-sen, we! can assert with genuine convietion that we have never made a scurrilous attack upon him while living nor upon his me-mary since his death. Scarcely 'a month has years that we offered material, allegedly well substantiated, which might have. been made the basis of "scur-the closing paragraphs, in one of which he writes with' no little bitterness of foreign "snobbery, and foul play" and in another charges the "North-China Daily! News" with having fostered anti-Chinese ideas among its readers. for many years, of having contributed to. the anti-foreign movement within the "Nations list" cause, and of having made!
"scurrilous attack upon the} Dr, Sun Yat-sen and his rious" attacks but we have always believed too firmly in Dr. Sun's sincerity of purpose, even. when we thought him misguided, and have had too much admira~ tion for his dogged persistence in the face of heavy odds to stoop to scurrility or ridicule. It is true that we have not come wufliciently under Soviet or Bolshevized Kuomintang influence to regard his best known work, We really resent these fee] that we hay
ritish and other foreign cor Perfect right to. defend the munities in China against rabi and unreasoning anti-foreignism, especially when it is clear that] much of the Chinese inspiration behind this psychic typhoon is either patriotic nor unselfish and when we have overwhelming] evidence to prove that a great' part of the inspiration is. not Chinese at all but emanates from an alien source, hostile to all existing social orders, Ori.! ental or Occidental. not, call being anti-Chinese, and we do not believe that any fair' minded Chinese would deny us the right to defend the foreigner] against such forces if he stopped to think about it, If some mi guided organization in America, let us say, were at this time to launch a campaign for the undoing of the Chinese in the United States if such an organi zation got a grip upon the opin-jon of the emotional and "half-baked" elements with which every community abounds, in tho} West as in the East, we should not consider the journals which serve the big Chinese communities in San Francisco and New (York anti-Amercan if they came vigorously to the defence of their nationals and criticized the leaders of the hostile organization for corrupting public opinion.
We do not think it anti-Chi-infallible and inviol ture and that we have dealt with it as we would with any other human document, thereby con-vineing the great body of our foreign readers that Dr. Sun was equipped neither by natural endowment nor by experience and observation, in China and abroad, to evolve for. his people the formula for national salva~ tion, In the sight of some Chi nese to whom Dr. Sun's lectures appear in the light of a gospel, this may be sacriligious but it certainly is not scurrile sre choose to'see tu the "Three Principles" a Will-o'-the-Wisp, leading China into a quagmire, rather than a beacon lig! the way between the rocks, we have not been abusive in stating' our point of view; and we refuse to think of ourselves as anti Chinese because we object to joeing the Chinese people, in their ignorance and innocence, saturated with political docts junes which may hold up their! progress towards peace, comfort, and real independence under respectable Government for decades to come, We think that Mr. Cha vocabulary is running away with him when he writes of "foreign snobbery and foul play." Space does not permit us to go into this matter at any great length, but a very little reading of the history of foreign relations with China would convince even Mr. Chao that whatever restrictions nese either to have condemned from time to time, in as strong] terms as decency would permit, Governments and would-be Gov. ernments, politicians, militarists and adventurers, whose functions are ever destructive and who oppress, terrorize and impoverish the Chinese people whom we genuinely respect and upon whose industry and good Sense we could rely for the salvation of China if they were given half a chance. When anyone is charged with being anti-or impositions are now put upon China by the Powers, giving the! impression of an assumption superiority, were originally the result of extreme provocation in the form of Chinese official snobbery and bad faith, and that ill usage was invariably endured with patience and good nature over periods of many years until in each instance it was discover-_ ed that indulgence was being interpreted as a warrant for further abuses, Mr. Chao sets himself against the teachings of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.