Broadly stated, there are three distinct political influences in Nanking. First of "all there is the Kuomintang. All acts of the Nanking Government are taken the name of the Kuomintang but that name denotes something very: abstract now, something which still cannot be discarded, which must be retained to justify' existence—but. which must also be kept under the: strictest control lest it develop renewed vigour and overthrow tho} very Government which claims to be its representative, Then, there is the influence of the Peking Government which has worked self into the Nanking Government through the Old Chiaotung clique and the local Shanghai financiers, and which is really paving the way. for the continuation of the same personalit\|s in Peking when and if the Northern Expedition succeeds. In a word, although Marshal Chang may be defeated by General] 4 Chiang Kai-shek, the Peking poliyi, do not intend to lose their posi tions and their influence when the Nationalist Government removes astuteness and political experience, and as the only politically minded members of the Kuomiatang are travelling the world for an education, this Peking influence in Nanking is not to be discounted, and there is no name in Nankis which 'Sres the popular, Imagination as much as does' that of the Christian general. Explanations can offered for his astonishing popularity, First, he has always had a favourable Chinese press because he has always supported the most popular tendencies of the moment; he was an ardent Christian during the days when the hope of China seemed to lie in Anglo-American ce-operation and methods; ho was violently anti-Japanese during the Student Movement period; he wanted to make war on Great Britain after May 303 he became allied with the Russians when they fired the minds of the youth of the country; he was the first to turn on the Russians who of thei influence waned; he became less of an Old Testament Christian when that faith seemed to imply what he now calls superstitions; he was opposed to Dr. Sun Yat-sen in his Wu Pei-fu days; he has become one of the most ardent apostles of the Doctor singe then—in a word, he senses public opinion and follows, it long before other military lead-, ers have caught its tendency.
The Lonely Furrow Secondly, he has been so far away from the scene of political activity that he has not suffered much from personal contact, Except for short, periods in Peking and its, ways been in the ids, as it were. Only the occasional traveller has seen him personally and has usually gone away with a report of poverty, humility, equality between officer and soldier which has contrasted with the pomp and circumstance of other militar ists, He has never been in the centres of population auch as Shanghai and Canton and therefore hho has not come into direct personal contact with the forces which, F- through journalism, the lecture plat. form and the school-room, mould Chinese opinion. General' Chiang Kaicshek, for instance, suffers cone siderably from his participation in clique quarrels within the Kuomintang, Dut Marshal Feng has never been' in a Kuomintang capital noe directly participated in. a clique quarrel except indirectly, when he has influenced them all and he has been, at times, in a position to offer hie services as 0 middle-man for pence, Two Contrasts in Support Riy, although—it very diticute for the foreigner to realize it, compromise of any nature with what the Kuomintang calls military amy whic relly means Poking, and imperialism, which mean Uevmore. than "that the treaties should remain unchanged, is very unpopular with. the nvasses, although the leaders have learned by experience that hurried acts, Adoquately considered, undisciplined Political movements cither against Chinese institutions or the foreign Powers, involve them chaotic conditions which are coatlig them than' to' those at who they are aimed, Marshal "Fong offers-no compromises. He is still following slogans and catchwords. The rank and file of the Kuomintang membership, then, turn to him, At somme time, one heats of Chihit province gentry sending delegations to welcome him to their province Essentially Marshal "Feng Yue hsiang is a brilliant politician. lo has survived all the changes of a not by fighting, but. by politics and all the signs show that he will survive the present war. But he cannot survive except as a S0rv~ fant. of the. Kuomintang ifthe Northern Expedition should suc In Chinese—political circles, it is therefore suggested that the Northe Expedition will not succeed, but that. Marshal Feng" Vu-hsiang' wilt survive. There is much in this Chinese way of stating a fact that lies change of relation between Nanking and Kaifeng in the near future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.