the time of the strike at the Hanyehping Ironworks a somewhat singular labour organization came into prominence, this being a Glee Club conducted under the auspices of the workmen. It appeared to be a sort of trade union, and the mystery of how it received its name does not seem to have been ever explained. Apparently, however, the idea of a Glee Club has taken hold upon the workers in the vicinity of Hankow and Wuchang, for in connexion with the latest outbreak of labour trouble there, that on the Canton-Hankow Railway, another Glee Club has come into being. Cantonese are conducting it, and under its auspices the arrangements for the strike seem to have been made. The cause of the trouble is put down to harsh treatment of the men by two foremen, whose dismissal is demanded as a condition of retwning to work. Looking further into the matter, however, it is found that the workmen are Cantonese while the foremen are northerners, and there is the chance that as much as anything else it is the old feud over again. At any rate the foremen are not to be outdone, for they have now started their own organization and have given it the high-sounding name of Research Club. If this practice goes on much further clubs will became, objects of deep suspicjon in the country. Some. such suspicion must already have been bred by the doings of that interesting Peking body, the Anfu Club, which came to such a bad end, and the feeling will very likely grow.
They have shown he country people that high-lying; land, unpopular with those whose principal business in life has been the cultivation of rice, offers a rich yeward to the former who will include cotton among his crops and work it scientifically. In all these projects prejudice and ignorance are among the first obstacles to be overcome, but the University seems to have made much headway in that direction. For instance, foreign ploughs and cultivators and a new type of ginning plant—to have intro-: duced these is in itself a noteworthy achievement, and it may be felt that at length tangible results are jukely to accrue in the direction of better cotton. Moreover, as a scientific achievement the acclimatization the American gp. variety calls for praise. A considerable amount of this work has only been carried through because monetary assistance was provided by foreign interests here, and it is matter for regret that business conditions have brought these contributions to an end. But they have provided the means to start a very great work, and it is to be hoped that the Chinese will see how much it is to their advantage that it should be carried on and expanded.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.