Tsingkiangpu, May 19.
North Kiangsu, at least that portion comprising the several counties lying north of Tsingkiangpy, has not been as peaceful in years as it has been during the past month.
peaceful condition may be accounted for by the fact that there are no soldiers in this territory at present—all having passed to the north, Also, many of the bandits who would otherwise have been left behind were enlisted for service at the front. The few hundred bandits who did not care to enlist and who were planning to turn themselves: loose on the country-side, were rounded up and killed by the 37th Army on its way to the front. During a recent trip through this section the only place where there was any trouble was at Kao-liu a large market town about thirty miles north of Shuyang. Here it seems that a band of about two thousand robbers had dislodged the entire population and had taken up their abode within this walled town. They began to terrorize the whole country-side. Tt is reported that these bandits were recently "Ex-bandit" soldiers belonging to the army of Chang! Chung-chang. In preparation for the advance of the Southern forces, they were supplied with artillery, arnis, and ammunition, but instead of fighting as was expected of ther they retired to safer quarters the mountains of north Kiangsu. When the Southern forces had all passed by they came out full force to em themselves off of the lo. They bean robbing'
ug to the great terror of the villagers. As there were no soldiers to fixcht them, it was clearly. up to the people themselves to raise a small army and drive the bandits away (into the next county), So strate Ma collected the "local militia numbering several hundred, gathered together the Village Protective Societies, and also enlisted the help of the Small Sword Society. This little army had to face shrapnel, machine guns, and other weapons' of war. But it meant life or death to this community. Thus, after cutting off food supplies and fighting for several days, they finally managed to drive the bandits into the Mu-ling mountains to the north, wu Again Since China's agreement not to raise opium several years ago, the officials in this" scetion seem to have enforced the most rigidly. So this Spring it was a surprise to find such large areas covered with fields of blooming poppies. Inquiries failed to reveal the reason why' the people over: 40 large an area should plant opium at the same time when the law had been repealed. Some report that it is a concession to the poor people who have been taxed so heavily, and who have been robbed, and plunder ed, and whose homes have been burned over their heads. Ax, so far, no tax has been placed on the opium, this would seem to be a reasonable explanation. While it is quite evident that it is not only the poor who are raising opium, yet the rich have not been spared by the bandits. At one time this past winter the bandits made a round-up' and brought in forty three Iandowners to hold for ransom and tied them up in one of the Mission chapels.
In many sections, the country has not been in such bad condition in twenty years as it is today. Villuge after village for miles, has been! burned to the ground, and the people robbed, burned, and tortured in every conceivable" way to extort money from them: The past year to them has been-one of terror.
Some prosperous market towns have been burned and business is at a It is true that a small amount of famine relief has been given oat by the officials to the homeless and penniless, yet the situation has not been touched. The only relieve element is the fact that the pcop'e are about to reap a very bountiful wheat harvest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.