It is the old, old story: the Japan ese manage to' quarrel with all their tools, Or to put it the other way ound: the puppets suddenly come Life and start pulling the strings themselves. The Japanese military. gentlemen who, as we are being constantly told, know the Chinese 50 much better than anyone else seem imagine that, as soon as a Chinese! ig working under them, he will change his nature altogether, and Seem quite hurt and surprised when things do not work out as they had expected. And the worst of it Is that they cannot go on changing their Chinese personnel for ever; after a time they run short of material. These dimculties of the Japanese in Hopel-Chahar to-day are an. inter~ esting and signifeant commentary on the theories of those people who talk, Ughtly of the Japanese "putting by China in order." of that kind.
'Whatever may the correct reasons for the present seemingly easier situation in. the rth, one thing seems pretty "clear: the Japanese have, a8 usual, not had much luck with' their choice of persons. Not one of those whom they have ap-Pointed, presumably in the hope that they would forward Japanese policy, has: come up to scratch. The great Dothara, now relegated to obscurity og the' commander of "a reserve division in Japan, must be laughing up his sleeve, as he reads what foing on in these parts, Foremost among the disapopintments, from the Japanese point of view, is Gen. Sung Che-yuan himself,' Pressed, on the one side, by what some may call the intransigeance, and others the patriotism, of his own Twenty-ninth Army, and on the other, by the encroachments of his Japanese friends, General Sung has maintained a masterly inactivity, and manages to keep his uneasy balance on the fence between the two.
The Japanese are not satisfied with him," But what are they to do? His chiot claim to their support ts the very fact that he ts the commander of that Twenty-ninth Army, the only organized military force in Hopel Chahar. If they were to remove him from his present post, the only possible successor would be some ether general of that army who most likely would prove even less accom= mo dating than he, To putin some outsider as commander of the army fe impossible, as it would at "once lead to serious trouble, Gen, Sung Necessary Adjunct On the other hand, without the twenty-ninth Army, "the task maintaining peace and order in these parts would have to be carried out by' the Japanese. themselves, a_ task: for which the present North China garrison would be scarcely sumclent. 'The Japanese, whether they like li oF not, must cling to Gen, Sung Che-yuan, even if they can hope to get ttle' more out of him. In the present state of Sino-Japanese relations up here, he is like a toy balloon which has been blown up to its fullest extent. A little more pres sure and it will burst, when somebody might get a nasty black eye, nothing worse.
Nor have the Japanese had any! success with any of the other horses they have backed, though judging from previous form they might have perhaps. less in Peiping. But that Gevelopment was bound to take place in any event and would probably have been very much greater and more rapid, but for the interference of the military. Indeed, reconstruction Work has suffered a direct set~ ick In Hopel as a result of the Japanese impact. It is now one of ihe "most "backward provinees of China.
This no double is due, in part, to! reasons of finance. As iong'as the Japanese assert their control over: these parts, the Central Government fs Maturally averse to spending any more money than it can possibly help on reconstruction work. But another:
Feason for the lack of development of the North is undoubtedly the mosphere of passive resistance with, which all Japanese suggestions of Improvements are received by the local authorities. They presumably think it safer to do nothing at all, suther than to make an effort which might be interpreted as a surrender to Japanese" wishes.
Smuggling a Pyrrhie Victory The only "success" that the Japa-peso can be said to have gained in North China Is In the matter of the smuggling from "East Hopel. But even this Isa Pyrthic victory, Detter stil, is only a defeat of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, rather than a victory for Japanese business terests. Asa certain portion of! the smuggled goods comes from coun tries other than Japan, this smuggling is not entirely to the advantage of Jegitimate Japanese imports.
Although things in the North have been peaceful for several months, it would be incorrect to say that conditions have become more stable. On the contrary, there is a feeling of uncertainty in the alr, and everybody asking: what next? The truth would seem to be that both sides have become so interlocked that even a Japanese retreat—a highly improbable assumplion—might give almost 2 severe a shock to the. political Stuatlon, as would a further advance. The position of North China, it would sem, can only be stabilized as part ofa general agreement between the two countries, And until that happens, the best that can be hoped for is what may be called an armed truce, as at present, Asour 100 residents, the majority of whom are missionaries, have returned to Shensi and Kansu follow expected very mich better results. ing.the return of normal conditions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.