Nov. 15, Early last May, in anticipation of Peking's collapse, Mr. T. V. Soong, the Minister of Finance, sent a memorandum to the Nationalist_ Government the urgent importance of preparing a budget, or rather two budgets. One should cover ordinary expenditure; the other must provide for disbandment of troops, relief of devastated provinces, Joan consolidation, railway repair and the like. "A significant Passage is worth quoting in ful "In the past our experience has been that all budgets, however carefully formulated, have been upset by military campaigns, which today absorb 80 per cent, of our revenues, It is therefore essential that the Government immediately summon a military conference, which shall decide upon the size of the standing army and the army estimates and work out a plan for the demobilization of forces, wi should commence, as. soon enemy has been completely beat
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.