The immediate reason f.r these sarcastic displays is the conduct of the soldiery, Chang Tso-lin's troops have been widely reputed be the best-behaved soldiers in China, but, as a matter of fact, their conduct has not been a exemplary as widely believed. It true that in the piping times of pence Chang Tso-lin has not failed to pay his men, due to his favourable financial situation, but in times of stress Chinese military leaders prove themselves incompetent of such organization as the militarists of other countries are capable of. Tt in also true that the Mukden War Lord has a greater number of trained men than any of his opponents, Dut it is likewise true that, in orde to meet the exigencies of the "face" principle, he has had to give rapid promotion to many who are sadly deficient in the art of military organization, It is no exaggeration to say that it is only in China that a private to-day has a fifty-fifty chance of being made a major tomorrow or that an officer of minor rank may, in the course of a few months, gather such a following: that he could make himself a holy terror in more than one direction.
It is incompetent men such a these that are incapable of control ling their subordinates, and. th misbehaviour of such bands been a common occurrence in cer tain sections of Manchuria.
Bandits or Soldiers?
As already sajd, the immediate reason for the is the conduct of the soldiery, but, there is another cause, so far considered to be a product' more or less foreign to the Manchuria of Chang 'Tso-lin, namely bandit depredation central districts, such 'Mukden, Kirin, and cities and town fally protected by large numbers of troops, the bandits are conspicuous by their absence, but in villages and small towns' far removed from steady military protection, the tufei make their pro-sence felt from time to time. In some of these outlandish places the people's nerves are so keenly on edge that when seeing some one walking, at a quick speed they would maging that the bandits "had From time to time, these poor people would got together and treat the bandits toa good feed and send them on their way contented to a more prosperous locality. In fact, in some places' they have a sort of commuunity.'fund for' the appeasement Of bandits." When pursuing soldiers find out. that. the' bandits who had gone on.alieid' of. them had been thus appeased, they, the soldiers, would break into frenzied fry, ransack the people's houses and get off with anything striking their fancy.
Happenings such as these have! been so frequent recently that llage elder wrote to a certain paper inquiring whether bandits and soldiers were to be treated on the same level. This letter was intereepted by the censor and, in due course, the village elder received, severe reprimand and was fined. The only thing that saved his skin Was: undoubtedly his age.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.