Canton, Oct. 8.
We who live in Canton hear great deal of talk about retrenchment in the military department and the more one hears of this kind of talk the more perplexed he grows, and a five-year-old child could at a glance what is in store poor Kuangtung if the size of standing army is materially reduced. Great progress has been made by the commanders of the four rebabilitation districts in making the areas! under their control safe for navigation, in clearing these areas of bandits, or driving them into the high mountains. It has been years since the pirates and banditti have felt 201 disconsolate, for their's has been a lost cause, and this has been brought about by' waging ruthless warfare Militery force has ousted the robbers and pirates, but, had the four rehabilitation district commanders not had large and well-equipped armies at their disposal, they could not have earned the pi of the public. It took a really efficient fighting force to establish peace and order in so many counties, We may, surmise, then, that if Kuangtung tries to get along with a smaller army the lawless clements are hound to regain lost ground, and' in the twinkling of an eye much that has been accomplished will be lost, for, with all the progress that has' been made, the Kuangtung troops hav not succeeded in expelling all the vandals, Reds, and anti-government forces who still hold undisputed possession of a number of counties, mostly on the outskirts of the pro-
The Red Menace As concerned as many are about the suppression of banditry, they can not but be the more concerned about the suppression of the communists. Where the government has been unable to crush the power of the outlaws, it has been beat those outlaws are working hand in hand with the Reds. Along the Fu-Kien border are several counties, which might just as well not exist so far as the Kuangtung government is concerned, for. every government official has had to flee, and the blood-red banner of Moscow flies where the symbol of the Kuomintang once waved so proudly. These radicals are an ever-present threat; let the vigilance of the government relax but a moment, and there will be the dickens to pai All Canton has been led to believe! that the northern section of the: province has been entirely recovered; by the government troops. In the his is true, but in spots there: are Gutcroppings of the Red power that indicate plainly that the Red voleano is not extinct, but is simply. passive for the moment. On October! 4, an outpost of a detachment of soldiers stationed not far from Shiu-
Kuan was attacked from an ambush by Reds, and there were several casualties. An alarm was sounded, and the whole guard turned out, but the shooting was over before the reserve could reach the spot, and no trace of the murderers could be found.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.