Oct, 31.
The celebration of General) Chiang Kai-shek's fiftieth birthday—he was born in 1886 at Fenghua, Chekiang on this day of October—has "taken a national character. Pleasantly Chinese custom ordains thatthe later birthdays. of fe are more important than those of the first two or three decades. Western extravagance which showers presents on children's birthdays finds no support in the logical mind of this country. So General Chiang Kai-shek for the first time experiences. the embarrassment "of finding'*his birthday more than a family celebration.: This is' due not, merely to: his, attainment of the half-century" on which George Santayana;. characteristically dis regarding ' modern. conceptions, Geclares Old Agey,' on, tiptoe, Jays' her Lightly in mine General Chiang Kai-shek may be a veteran of the Republic, but he is a Wigorous, gute of manhood to] hich even the whitening of his hair ives no claim of old age, Somehow or other the idea of celebrating the: birthday of the President of the Excoutive Yuan and Generalissimo has caught the imagination of the public. At frst it seemed as if the movement for the presentation of aeroplanes was strictly official in inspiration. As time passed It was! apparent that it was taking 1 form of self"dedication.: to the! ational cause. Suddenly it seemed the critics and opponents of General Chiang... Kal-shole had! grown Weary of their antagonism. The revived solidarity of national thought in the face of exceptional aificulties confirmed them in salute of him. So his birthday is hailed og a national event and the occasion for & national tribute to a national leader at a time of national anxiety.
No-one' will deny—least of General Chiang Kai-shek himself—that the acquisition of this confidence has been no easy task, It {fitting on his birthday when re-prospect comes quickly to the mind, to ponder on his career, Ironically "enough; will it be recalled at this time of his special leadership of China that when studying at the Military Staff College at Tokyo, he first came into contact with revolutionary polities, He joined the Tung Meng Hul—the forerunner of the Kuomintang—and so came under the influence of Dr. Sun Yat-sen who in 1923 made him his chief of staff.
Dr, Sun's idea of founding a Military Academy*at Whampoa ted to the despatch of the young staff officer to Russia whence he returned to found and be the first Commandant of the Whampao Military Academy, the present cadets of which had recently an opportunity' of acclaiming him in the dramatic circumstances of his return to Can~ on after ten years' absence. There is no need to attempt a narrative account of General Chiang Kal-she's successive military operations from 1926 onwards in the endeavour to create a China responsive to the guidance and control of Central Government, As recently as on the Silver Jubilee of the Double Tenth that achievement with all its heartbreaking disap-ointments and vicissitudes, now s0 remarkably overcome, was fully examined. He has been confronted with, the difficulty of extricating himself from the coils of the warlord-system, "His fervent desire to. put an end to the internal strife which disfigured the efforts of the infant Republic to find itself Was more successfully accomplished than his project of putting the army. ona national basis. Traditions dic: hard and there has been insufficient confidence to, enable the Government rapidly to dispense with the notion of personal armies, General of the problem of the two Kwangs has brought him'and the Government an authority which - almost ful dis national requirements. Moreover the growing pressure of Jay anese encroachment hes been a potent factor in rallying the provinces to the support of the Central Government, especially as in purely local affairs' it has shown a wise tolerance under which provincial autonomy has, developed.
General Chiang Kai-shek's stature. has increased' with the opportuni. ties afforded him. He has shed some of the characteristics of the military adventurer and thus allowed the riper qualities of the national leader to come to the fore.
In: devotion to duty, simplicity of life and breadth of vision he has tet a vivid example." Ambition indispensable to the success of his efforts to consolidate China. It has been yoked not ignobly to a real [study of China's needs. 'The imdensity of the task has not dismayed him; it has checked any tendency' to over-confidence if ever he stood in danger of that affliction. It has taught him the value of realism and the practical obligation to pursue the middle course where compromise is seen to be in the best interests of China. His conception ofthe need for a national spirit of self-sacrifice has inspired the New Life Crusade' which has given Such impetus. to nation-building enterprises for the solution of rural economic problems and the other objectives of the People's Economic Reconstruction Movement to which he specially referred on the Double! Tenth. Therein are enormous possibilities for good, but it is vital that General Chiang Kai-shek should be well served by those around him and beyond him. Systematic measures are required to translate orders into deeds; otherwise the obstruction and indifference of negligent officials will not give way to driving force, He who works for the economic develop-tent of China, saves China and Justifes his own manhood as a citizen.. Elaborate expositions unaccompanied by a determination to ensure results lead to self-delusion and. ultimately _self-stultification. Political. jealousy _and'-hostility Gerenal Chiang Kal-shek has encountered on occasion, Neither an-archangel nor infallible superman, but merely a very human being, he has made mistakes with others in like case. Yet, generally, he has displayed magnanimity and 1 shrewd sense of direction in over~ coming obstacles, Thus he can command a reasoned as well as an affectionate allegiance to which few men in China have been able to égpire'in modern times. On this ship, there 1s special cause to hope that" the dignified modesty and firmness of purpose which ha marked his approach to China's difficulties will continue to uphold him. He has been greatly sustained the' devotion and counsel of a patriotic wife, just as, in his boy~ hood days, he was' able to count on the guidance and control of the remarkable lady who brought him into the world Afty years ago. "A noble mother must have bred brave a son" said Napoleon to the British sailor. The thought gives special fragrance to the greetings which go this morning to Loyang where China's man of the hour is seeking how best he can minister China's destiny.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.