Japanese and other foreigners and Chines" resident in Shanghai find common cause. today in condemnation of the decisions which Yed to the terrible slaughter of peaceful civilians in the International Settlement.
French Concession and certain parts of Chinese territory on Saturday. The Chinese Air Force made a ghastly debut short hours it did more ha cause in the eyes of the world than could b" achieved by months of political blundering. Its attack on the Japanese cruiser proved how far human capacity falls short of the deadly efficiency of weapons it has invented fo destruction. The objective was unscathed wit the result that the Chinese bombers indulged in what was virtually blind bombing. The military value of the exploit was nil. The heavy roll of deaths shows that in the fi major clash between the forces of China an Japan in Shanghai the combatants suffered negligible casualties. The sacrifices made by over one thousand foreign and!
Chinese victims. It is safe to say that all nationalities ly Shanghai—including both Chinese and Japanesi ¢ nothing for the niceties mutual recrimination at this moment. They insist—and it is earnestly hoped that their official spokesmen have been able effectively to press the point home to avert' further disaster fever demons tions have to vied out te arbitrate on the milit ne between Ching and Japan, toy should be removed away from this City where 3,000,000 people} endeavour to five together in quietude, ha many and concord. Shanghai, as a whole, magnificently rose to the occasion, sick al heart and physi repelled as it was by the sights which desecrated its There was no bitter! among ni braced themselves to meet e extensive di: location of the whole civic organization cotised by the insensate recklessness of those who sent the aeroplanes on a military adventure which was transformed by the very limitations of the instrument of death into an orgy of civilian murder There was only bitterness inst the blind callousness 6f the militarist mind which could so little perceive the consequences of its actions. O1 the punctilios governing the attack and defence Shanghai takes no ae count, "A plague on both your houses" the poignant thought as the shambles in Nanking Road ani Avenue Edward VII are r called. Shanghai knows full well that it i not the fi city in recent months to be faced with this ordea}. It recalls, however, that five years ago it had a tragic enough {oretaste of the experience of this week-end. The world horrified enough. Since then, in Madrid specially—an ely in " Tientsin—the savagery which exposes civilians to dangers of death and mutilation from the air has] inured the mind to such happenings. Yet that does not console Shanghai or weaken it: contention that its international composition, its lack of defined polity should give those who are nominally responsible jointly and severally for its security and welfare, ground {for immediate action to the hand of destruction. Morale in this city has been wonderfully maintained, thanks to the admire able conduct of the police, military and volunteer forces, as well as of those numerous ancillary organizations, such as the fi brigade, ambulance services, medica! and oursing personnel all of whom di heroism for which their fellow-citi grateful beyond words. The private citizen too is to be commended as he or she, bewildered and distraught, contributed a general resistance to demoralization. The question which all Governments have to ask themselves is whether this magnificent spirit promptly reinforced by remedial action whether Shanghai has to face further deterioration imposing a strain of impossible intense Stimulus to concerted diplomatic pressure on the responsible Chinese and Japanese authorities should be inspired by the knowledge that neglect of their manifest obligations has been fundamentally the cause of this horror Ever since 1932 it has been plain that exposure of this international enclave to the danger of its use as the basis of military operations haa to be seriously taken into account. In the Shanghai Municipal Council's efforts to restore peaceful and harmonious relations after the pact of May 1932 conditions vere tacitly allowed to develop in further breach of the Settlement's neutrality. The process of hair-splitting was brought to bear on this development. The foreign powers on whose shoulders lies the responsibility for the Settlement's security were perhaps misled b: this glossing over of inconvenient facts. How: ever that may be, they must have been to some extent made aware of the potential gravity of the situation as they received from their trained observers information on the trend of Sino-Japanese conflicts, physical and mental. It may be asking too much to suggest that an appeal to the militarists of China or Japan will be more than a waste of breath.
should not, however, be impossible through their respective governments to bring them to sense of the enormity of their crime against humanity. It is useless to argue that they are engaged in defending their own people. To-day they are faced by the fact that their defence has actually resulted en the ghastly murder of some of the very objects of their ostensible solicitude and of other nationals in no way concerned in their dispute, The Chinese Air Force in particular has to consider that among the victims of its prowess, forsooth, were probably many humble Chinese who had actually contributed to the purchase of the aeroplanes in the name of "national salvation". Japanese citizens who are mourning to-day must perforce think bitterly of their own warship whose presence in the heart of this City, designed to give them protection, came ironically enough to be the cause of their undoing. If they could be asked, they would probably say that they would care nothing for appearances or other attributes of national dignity if the ship were removed and they were allowed to rely on the mutual forbearance and sense of comradeship which this tragedy has evoked among the citizens of Shi hai. But the word lies with the various Governments—foreign and Chinese—and they are now given the opportunity. to justify the reliance placed upon them. They must call a halt to this travesty of national defence. Otherwise Shanghai may have the unenviable privilege of providing the latest grim: monument to the failure of modern statesmanship and the futility of war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.