A suggestion that appears not unworthy of consideration is that this paper money on the persons of private Japanese soldiers has been distributed for the purpose of creating the impression that Chinese farmers and others are being paid for supplies forcibly taken from them by Japanese troops. If this is so, it seems a somewhat clumsy piece of theatricalism, for, apart from the fact that Chinese are familiar with exploited by provincial warlords in the not so distant past, the notes themselves are not likely to deceive the exceedingly suspicious farmer.
The $5 note of the Bank of T.D. of which a photograph is given, for example, has the name of "Chekiang" on it, but careful inspection shows that the original issue printed on the note was Harbin. This is not surprising considering that the head office of the Bank was it. Mukden and the notes it had withdrawn from circulation were likely to be found in the provincial treasury there. Nor is the Chinese farmer likely to be so stupid as not to realize the difficulty of obtaining value for currency so unfamiliar to the Chinese people war time German mark notes.
Reports from the North show that similar devices are being adopted by the Japanese forces there. It would seem that such financial ingenuity deserves a greater measure of success than so far has been reported.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.