It is easy to criticise the military leaders for their apparent indifference to this bandit scourge and it would not be much of a task to go back and show how they have been responsible for its growth; but that is water over the dam, the point now is how can the evil be checked with the instruments at hand, now, to-day. And he who thinks that a determined move by the military in concert will turn the trick is more of an optimist than the writer.
Every man who has cut one eyetooth knows that any civil law depends in the last analysis on popular sentiment for its enforcement. The Ruhr has taught the world that military law is equally futile in the. face of a passive stubbornness - or indifference. And the best general in China finds himself confronted and hobbled by an utter indifference on the part of the public when he sets out to purge the country of the tufei.
The writer was right in the amidst of the biggest robber drive "that has been conducted for some years in North Kiangsu no later than a few weeks ago and it yielded almost nothing in the way of actual captures, although the most elaborate precautions were taken and thousands of soldiers were in the field. The bandits were not only located but surrounded—and they simply vanished—the story of which requires another instalment.
AN UNASHAMED CONFESSION, To my frequent inquiries as to where they might be found the villagers would smilingly reply "Oh, they are probably not very far away." It was also said that anybody who wanted to get in touch with them could very easily do so. Further inquiries brought out the unashamed confession that nobody would dare to inform on the robbers and furthermore that these very villagers were glad to have a few resident robbers among them. It is recognised that "the fox must sleep sometime, the wild deer must rest'' and every thief must have a place for recuperation. He and his gang will see to it that his village is not molested. In return for this abiding place, the neighbouring villages also enjoy immunity, for the gang will choose localities beyond their immediate haunts in which to operate.
A Chinese pastor recently quoted me the proverb: The rabbit does not eat the grass on the edge of his burrow? which leaves nothing to be said on the subject.
The. writer is not a medical man _and does. not know what is the latest treatment of boils and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.