Having settled the paramount question of suitable residences for himself and his officers, the General turbed his attention to filling. the gaps' in his force, due-to desertion, and the wastage' of war. A re-emiting office was opened in the city but at Jong last the Chinese country lad, even in the midst of a bitter North China winter, has developed a reluctance to-be mes merited by the eloquence of a recruitingy sergeant, The promises of two or more square meals: per day, good pay, not to mention insidious suggestions as to what happens after a victory, do not Somehow touch the spot as in bygone days. The reason is surely not far to seek.
South Chili in the past two years has seen too much of the misery and cruelty, of war to harbour any filusions on the subject. Moreover, numerous deserters have come back from the south with horrible tales of what they have seen and suffered in the bitter struggles of Inst year between Hstchowfu and kow, and even beyond in the smashing reverses of Chang Chungch'ang's Army, which their bom-hostie leader threw across the Yangtze in the expectation of an easy walk over to. Shanghai.
Small wonder then that a re-cruising campaign in this region has miserably failed and that. the 70th Division remains a skeleton force.
A Colleetion of Waifs and Strays A casual glance at the representa. tives of the rank and file to be seen in the streets would be sufficient to damp the enthusiasm of any would-be soldier for martial glory. To the great amusement of local citizens, the recruiting officers have been compelled to accept the ragtag and bob-tail of the miserable collection of -waifs rays whose only inducement snerifice their freedom was the doubtful prospect of being fed at Public expense.
jut the humour of the situation rapidly changed to tragedy for many of the unfortunates. The £ood supplied to them was of the poorest They were herded together tha clothing quite inadequate for the depth of winter. Something went wrong with the-clothing supply department in Tientsin, and no wadded uniforms arrived until well on in January. By that time many of the prospective wearers had perished, frozen to death. in rooms absolutely devoid of all warmth. From a temple outside the North gate of the City eight corpses taken out one morning and buried on the bleak plain, Other soldiers be. sides the "ragged company" suffered similar fate, and those who survived have only pulled through at the cost of considerable damage to other people's property. ivate Houses Looted for Food Some were quartered in premises abutting on the courtyard of a pretentious memorial temple outside the West gate, and, exasperated at the callous indifference of officers to their misery, they removed doors and windows from adjacent rooms and chopped them up for firewood! Others roamed the countryside and took what firing they could from the scanty store of the villagers, who, naturally, were too cowed to offer resistance.
The_ high-water-mark of barefaced impudence in this campaign of oppression was reached on the Inst day of the Chinese lunar yeat by a foraging party of hungry soldiers under a non-commissioned officer. In the course of their investigations outside the-west gate, they entered the house of 2 middle-class citizen, where before the an-castral tablets was spreed a. tempt ing display of votive offerings, cluding @ large quantity of steamed bread, bowls of appetising viands, and a succulent little pig, roasted whole! The sight was too much for them, and in defiance of all law and religious sentiment, they swooped down and carried off the lot. A friend of the writer who happened to be passing by on his way to the City saw the party emerge from the house with their spoil, and realizing that there was trouble abroad, hastily returned home ar barred his front door.
Writing on the wall The latest thunderbolt from Jove in Tientsin, aimed at the unhappy tradesmen of the city, is a proclamation enforcing yet another tax-to be known as the "shop sign" contribution. Every business in China, whether great or small, has its signboard, or representation of the goods stocked and sold by the proprietor, and some of them are of the most elaborate natural and real artistic merit. Others are merely articles necessary to the trade of busi th represent such as the "tsao wicker scoop used in the kitchen department of all Chinese inns, imposition demands the payment of a sum representing 25 per cent. on the capital of every trader, and there is consternation in the streets lof the City. The Aukuochun leaders are preparing a very warm welcome in the hearts of the people for the Nationalists by shutting their eyes to the: bitter resentment they have aroused by their reckless exactions, All classes of the people are sick to death of the present regime and are praying for deliverance from any quarter. I have already suggested that there ix good reason for the opinion that the power of the Northerners is crumbling, and that the writing on the wall cannot be mistaken,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.