An Appeal for Action To the Editor of the "Nonni-Chia Darwy News"
'Sm—I have no wish to be considered an alarmist, but would like! to avail myself of' the courtesy of your correspondence columns. {o Sound a note of warning to the people of Shanghai. Although there _are many Indications that the Inter~ national Settlement, at least south of the Soochow Creek, and the French Concession are once more approach-tug normal, with evacuees beginning to return, various places of amusement opening up again and more shops resuming business, it would be great mistake for the community to be lulled into a false sense of security. Shanghai Is in a very grave situation, just as grave if not graver than that'existing in the early days. of the hostilities in this area. T am not thinking so much of the danger fof the International Settlement and French Concession becoming the dual battle ground of the contending Chinese "and Japanese forces, although that danger remains so long as the fighting continues to take place on the borders of these sections of the city. Tam thinking of the resent and fulure economic danger in which Shanghai has been placed by this unreasonable and" utterly useless war—the danger of Shanghai's literally dying on its fect.
The present recovery is at best only slight swing back from the chaos and" paralysis produced by the suddenness and the appalling nature of the bombing catastrophes of the first fow days of hostilities. At the moment Shanghai business men are subsisting by the proverbial "taking in of each other's washing." Certain stocks of commodities and articles are on hand, and are being disposed of to members of the community who require them at ever increasing prices, but, as far as T have been able to ascertain, there is no real business. Imports' and exports, upon which the economic life of Shanghai 48 based, have been almost completely sloped. Practically nothing coming Ju to replace the stocks of ite-necessities for local consumption, nothing is coming in from abroad to trans-ship up country to interior markets and' nothing is coming in from the interior to export to foreign countries, This means death by stagnation to the economic interests tupan which this city's very existence depends. So much for the present.
The future offers a picture no less gloomy. It is venerally conceded that Business interests in Shanghai might be able to hold out under present conditions to the end of the year, but no longer. At present, However, there are no prospects that these conditions will have changed materially by that time, "On the con= trary, there are. many indications that, unless something is done to pre vent it, conditions will be prolonged Well into the coming year, possibly oven for a couple of years. purely Shanghai business concern, Yarge or small, can survive such a contingency, although big European fand American companies which maintain only a branch in this city could, of course, clos down for the time being and open up again a year or £0 hence, As Shanghai is situated, a local vielory 10 the Japanese forces end the removal of Rostilities wall (0 the westward of this area would not prove matters, since there would still be no possibility of any produce of commodities coming in from the inferior for export and no prospect, of sending imported foods into the Interior even if such goods could be brought into the port from abroad. It the Japanese were to gain a com: plete victory over China and some Kind of peace agreement were to be made, the only business and com~ mercial interests that might benefit from this would be Japanese, since Japan would undoubtedly retain the area between the Soochow Creek and the mouth of the Whangpoo, and would be in a position to throttle the trade of the nationals of all other countries, a position of which it is me conceivable, in the light of her pre vious actions elsewhere, she would fall to take advantage. there might bbe some hope of Shanghai's making a reasonably rapid recovery if China were to win an early and decisive victory, a contingency which, while no means out of the range of possibility, does not seem likely if Japan to be allowed by the other World Powers the free hand in China she has enjoyed up to the present.
While It must be admitted that on the face of it the situation looks about as bad as it could be, T for one do not believe it is as hopeless as it appears. I believe that by a united and determined effort on the part of all Shanghai citizens, both foreign fand Chinese, to stir up the Foreign Powers to intervene effectively to put slop to this Insensate war being waged against China by Japan, of, falling that, at least to have Japanese forces withdrawn from the Shanghai area and to establish a neutral zone ound tea citys: Ghenebal could "he
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.