C.LM. Premises Raided and Wrecked by Mob: Nationalist Party Unable to Restrain Note Yamen Friendly but Ineffective how a Cos Decay of All Authority The writer of the following report, the Rev. A. B. Beard of great and-ominous change has come Since the Cantonese invasion over the province of Hunan, which no subsequent, permutations of policy and personnel of government can entirely efface.
"The relations of General Tang Song-chi with the Nationalist (Government at Canton, which had teountenanced his intrigues against Governor Chao Hong-ti, led to in. vereaged communist activity on_his assumption of the governorship of the province in Murch last, The (Governor himself, however, made secret of his own policy of maintaining the constitution and auttonomy of Hunan "and declared openly that no communist measures would be introduced into the pro-wince with his sanction, The counter-revolution of Genevall S¥eh and other commanders of the northern faction, however, which foreed General Tang to withdraw his forces southward to Hengchow sumption of-the title of Commander-in-Chief of the 8th Revolutionary Army and the rovineial headquarters Kuomintang sat Yungehow.
Soviet System Arrives tOn'his return to power in July, with the support of Southern rein: Yorcements and supplies, the Kuomtang assumed virtual control of the province and provincial interests. swore absorbed into the general sphere of Southern policy. The provincial government—was modelled and in place of the governorship and its subordinate departments 2 committee of govern-ament was established on Soviet with General Tang Song-chi the owner of a farm and his tenant,|- so result of which the landlord was killed.
The local court took jurisdiction lover the murderer, but his union removed hima fromaits custody. On appeal to General" Chang Yi-peng, facting chairman of the provincial government, the court received the fmonition that where workmen or Peasants were "concerned it was better to leave them alone. Oficial cox donation of crime and immorality further evidenced in the afiliation, with the approval of the authorities, of the robbers' and prostitutes! guilds to the general union of labour.
Taxation or Spotiation?
The ancient system of Jand tenure is to give place to new, Three formulae are under considera tion. By the first the produce tie soil is to be divided into four parts; three tenths thereof are to }g0 to the owner of the land, three. [tenths to the tenant, three tenths jate to benefit the state and one tenth the peasant association. The second -scheme tenths to the landlord, tothe tenant and two tenths to the tate and the association conjointly. "The third scheme differs from the Jeecond only in the proportions assigned to the participants, three tenths going to the owner of the soil, three tenths to the cultivator! and four tenths to the state and Jasnociation. YA curious feature of all these proposals is The perpetual Jendowment of a society established the interests of one party only, Jand of the two latter that the terests of the state and of the union fare pooled in consonance with Ge-Moral Chiang Kai-shek's now openly declared policy of ce-operation with labour in the government of ts C. I. M., arrived in Shanghai, on Saturday with his wife and 'The Chambers of Commerce in the other ladies mentioned helo destitute of all but what they many places have, as a consequence lof discussions between them and the 1007 Kuomintang, been superseded by Commercial' Associations formed For some time previous to the in forcing them downstairs again. jon revolutionary principles, and the riot, there had been a lot of anti-We heaved a sigh of relict and members of the older institutions Christian an] anti-foreign propa breathed our thanks to God, hoping persecute as traitorous merchants, ganda in the city that these loaders would. be able to avaricious misers and grasping of posting up inflamcratory posters prevail upon the rioters to disperse, landlords. The decay of authority Jand public meetings held from time This they found it very'hard to do, in instanced everywhere. At Liu-to time. An anti-Christien So-and we, on entering our bedrooms, yang during September the Kuomin-[ciety had hoon formed, and most, if vere horrified to find that -several tang made the situation so impos-not all, of the local delievers had rioters had already found their way sible that the magistrate an! many [been approached with a view to them by means of a long Inder of the merchants were forced to making them break off all connexion they had secured and were rapidly leave. for, Changsha. To cite a|With us. specific case a: eceasleny, of their|thereby.
Right up to the day of Very few were affected emptying the rooms of all their con-touts, methods, an army sub-contractor, the riot alt our services had been What they couldn't secrete on who was a member of the local Kuo-held continuously. the 5,000 odd their persons, they'threw out of the mintang, forced the principal con-Southern soldiers who had passed [windows to the-mob in the front tractor to pay for supplies alleged through the city, not one had been jeourtyard and soon a huge fire was to have been delivered at the front quartered on our compound, On. making short work of our earthly for which he could produce no rethe few occasions when we had possessions, Before long—many ceipts whatever. At Tschsing }gone on the street the local shop-people had forced their way upstairs October the magistrates and police keepers had appeared quits friendly.
Jand it was impossible to distinguish were driven out by the rabble at, [All these things, in addition to hav-between friend and foe. However, the instigation of the local coming heard of General Chiang Kai-the rioters were not bent on doing munist party, At Liling on Novem. chok's manifesto assuring protection any bodily injury, but—evidently fcr 1 the Hsueh Chih Hui collected to all Mission compounds under wished to strip the house clean of all articles of foreign appearance his jurisdiction, caused us to think] everything. Having already from the passengers on the train that the loca} situation need not thered up their handbags the Misses fund destroyed them. Siangtan is any apprehension, therefore Wray, Twidale and Day, on the entirely in the hans of labour. The jot was most uncxpested, advice of the friendly leaders, left gentry and merchants are in terror under escort for the -Yamén fof their lives and the authorities jand- my wife and I follow jate powerless to interfere with the On the day previous to the riot a minute or so later, unions. A thief wai recently (Saturday, Jan, 22) we had received Buch kindness was shown to us at released from custody on the Tr, Judd's letter, stating that, the the Yamen, where well stayed until Presentation of his union that he [Consul's advice was for immediate the following Tuesday afternoon, was acting under economic pressure evacuation, On the strength of when we boarded q boat and left the and should not t srefore he hob? res-this we commenced hasty properacity for Jaochow and Kiukiang. ponsible'for his action, tions for Teaving Loping the following Taesday morning, On the Sad Scone of Wreckage Anti-Christian Outbursts Sunday morning (Jan, 23) we learn-On the day following the riot, Smouldering anti-Christian senti-acting under the advice of the local ment has recently burst into flame been arranged for midday by that another public meeting he] maxiatrate, went over -with—an in two widely distant quarters, AL en's Guild, #9, acting! recent, including the sub-magistrate Liuyang, fifty miles to the tot Jon the advice of trustworthy Chinese eliist of police, to see whether Changsha, the Weslayan Mission Christians, we shut our front door here was anything: lett out of the has for some months past been the at the close of the services.
The sight that met object of persistent persecution by During the afternoon, about the civil unit which follows in the: pam, we heard a noise in the stroct yy Cee part of the front courtyard was front, ea The larger its chairman, The provincial sembly disappeared and the manngement of district affairs was handed the country.
In pursuance of these ideals the! Pingsiang colliery is now entirely' wake of all nationalist armies in the field, Peasants, labourers and. students commenced in August last, outside our front gate and on hurrying out I learned that a procession cover to the local representatives the newly established unions—offunion, Its production of 900" tons Chriatinily. als? weapon int the of under the control of the miners'|an intensive
workmen. and peasants.
The} of coal daily is sold ky the wnion|hands of imperialism. Mission pre-had come to a stop there, and may voices clamoured for admission. padlocked the front gate and went inside for prayer with my fellow August accentuated the change.
eral Tang and his policy of of General Chiang Ki iprovineial autonomy were relegated tothe background in favour of the nationalist party and the con tions of Canton.
Before the arrival of the Cantion of the tating the Bench Chih Hui had acted} violence, has now decided that the representative of that party and had conducted on its behalf the anti-British campaign, The nct-Svities of this society are still widespread and malignant, but it is gradually being shouldered out of ower and its functions usurped by the Tao Wu Hsieh Hui which was Wireetly established by the Kuomin~ tang. The Chairman of both societies is an out-of-work teacher mamed Hsia Hsi who is concurrently the local leader of the parent organization. The students no longer play so important a part in the ¢ause, which has progressed beyond the stage of juvenile effervescence active aggression against the property, if not the persons, of its opponents, and wherever dissensions Yhave arisen between the students annid the unions the authorities have invariably taken the part of the Tyranny Over All The unions of peasants and work: men were established not, as is generally the case, for mutual pro-ection nnd collective bargaining, but for the specific purpose of furthering communist ideals and serganizating communist control of tthe province. They have largely achieved their object. All classes are subjected th their tyranny. The peasants dictate the rents and the objections of a recalcitrant landlord are met by his denunciation as an imperialist and an enemy of the people. The interests, of each individual member are enforced by the union concerned with utter indifference to the merits of the ar scase, Landlords "have een eaten to death in disputes about their rents. It is said thab '4m village near Changsha there twas sucha dispute recently between to the coal merchants for the sole benefit of the members of the union. Workers of cil classes, postal employees, ricsha coolies, _cargo coolies and domestic servants are fineited almost daily to demand increate in their wages. The: Chamber of Commerce, which has} and the consequent subjee-hitherto acquiesced in these extort province to the Kuomin-tionate demands from fear of merchants shall not take delivery of cargo and is contemplating a tohome for engagement of labour on a large scale from the interior of the province. They enjoy temporarily the support of the peasants who -are anxious for the export of some million and tait _piculs of surplus rice, obtained from the] recent harvest, and are dependant on the morchante for the realization of their object.
Law Superseded by Union 'The regulations of the newly! formed union of workmen in foreign employ, in which domestic servants are to be enrolled, contain inter alia provision for a maximum of fifty-four hours' work week, holidays on national and domestic occasions such -as mar-nages and funerals, an extra month's wages per annum and the Uetermination of all disputes between employers and employees by ithe "union. 'The most monstrous declares crimes of employees to be Jjusticiable in the union instead of the courts of law, and it would appear from the press that this article has been enforced with' humiliating results against the [Canton Christian College. Tt is almost impossible to conceive of a more disastrous blow to the cause of law and order and the foundations of society in this country.
Trade was suspended and] places of business closed daring the first three days of December while the populace participated in "commemorative observance lof the deaths of four miiddleschool students who were put {to death last year as agitators by, lorders of the Military Governor [Chao Hong-ti. Their coffined ro mises were invaded and their contents destroyed. The trouble eulminated in October ina revolt of the students, supported by other organizations, against the faith and demands for the—abolition of religious instruction in favour of the three principles of the late leader of the party, The members of the mission were eventually hounded out of the place and a Jecring horde of their former bene-telaries pursud? them, by light of lanterns and with ' threats of violence, down the river of their exodus. workers, who were upstairs.
very short time we were surprised to hear crashing noises down bel don hurrying downstairs I saw them, hard at work smashivss all the windows of the ground rooms. T shut the inside doors and hurried upstairs again to join the ladies in further prayer, Ina few minutes, during which most awful lerashing noises were heard, the Iowjer floor seemed to be full of people, fall tent on their work of destruction exe plunder, During the celebration of anniversary of the birthday of Dr. Mob Fury the
'Sun on October 12 at Nanhsien, Listening intently, I heard some inland from the north-west corner' tone say "upstairs" and knew that of the Tungting Lake, the students the rioters were bent on further! who formed part of the customary trouble. As they rushed upstairs, procession fuila} to force the bars T stood at the: top and by means "f with which the China Intend Mis-holding tightly to the benisters sion had fortified its doorways. The Jand with one hand against the wall, rabble which followed them, how-was able to keep them buck for half ever, broke into the smashed the doors, windows and men, premises; minut had almoc Just when several Jmen-had almost loosened my hold seats of the chapel, wrecked the fand were about to drag me down. residence of the mission and looted stairs, a good number of the leaders them thoroughly of their contents. lof the: local branch of the National-'The members of the mission, a man ist Party broke their way through id his wife with two children of the mob and eventually succeeded four months and five years of age respectively, Pasded—the night Jamidst-the ruins of their' home. the following day they were On this country that red has always been the colour of happy augury to formed that they were not wanted superstitious people, the in the district and had better be loceasion of the recent anniversary gone. They left at eleven o'clock the Russian revolution the city that night for Meitienhu on the }was placarded with denunciations Hupei border whence, overland to lof imperialism and eulogies of the Hwayang and by junk to Yochow, Soviet Republics. In the evening they reached Hankow on November Jan enormous procession with lan-Red Now Dominant terns wound its way through the streets and paraded before the Of professing Bolshevists there residence of the Russian Consul. It here sai to be some $,000 in Chang-lis said to have taken four hours 10 sha alone, students, peasants ass a given point. A dinner party labourers with a few prof anal at the Consulate was attended volitieians, ians.
Their previous liberty all the high officials in Changsha. of action was ascribai to their|The Hammer and Sickle appear at merits as propagandists and the|the head of all proclamations need of Russian munitions for the|the unions. success of the revolution, The red the light of recent events the of the nationalist flag "has now that there is little danger of become: the dominant colour. 'It flies Bolshevist China may have tobe from the masts of june and is revised. Historically am' ethnically borne.
in. all processions, even: the two peoples are related and an nuptial and bun It is no mean] important factor common to both jatact to the cause of communism miis the absence of any reverenc> for strewn with atill smouldering em:- bers, and amongst. the was' Mies Day's. typewriter, quite ruined by fire, What hadn't. been burnt was sarashed beyond repair, and the floors the, ground foot Not a single pane of glass was tact, not a single picture had been left' on the wall, ner a curtain before the windows, The walls were swept bare end destruction reign ed supreme, Upstairs was a little better, as the furniture in two bed~ rooms was almost intact, but everything of value personally was zone, with the exception of tho'back edréom occupied by Miss Wray land Miss Twidale. Somehow or other the leaders had managed to one that room's contents from des traction, In addition to the damage -done in the foreign house, the chapel windows and furniture were all destroyed or taken away, and damage was also dono to the new school The Chinese helpers and servants jon the compound suffered little loss, Nationalist -Apolocies The Chairman of the local Nationalist Party apologized for what the workmen (rioters) shad done -and they had got entirely out The lealers sowed the id we reaped the whirlwind, Haw, as distinct from subservience to authority, In truth, ea far east as the southern section of the country is concerned the economic condition of the people-and their amenability to mass' suggestion render them as susceptible to the suasion ant domination of a resolute minority as were the peasante and workmen of Russian, The Hunanese of all provincials are, perhaps, the most sensitive to such influence, and it would be presumptuous to' pro-phossy that no worse thing is to befall them, A few days ago a Chinese of high local standing ex-Pressed the fear that a time was coming more subversive of existing bases of society than was the French Revotution, Tue Netherlands cruiser Sumatra will arrive.at Shanghai for' short visit on February 19 or 20, jand not on February 18, og had been announced.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.