Indignation appears to have been aroused concerning the alle cutting of the Yellow River dykes by the Ci and there is a tendency in some quarters to criticise, them strongly for so doing. There are plenty of precedents for taking such a step, if indeed they did so, and it-is necessary to go no: further back in history than the Great War to find one, in the flooding large areas in Belgium for the purpose of holding up the German armies. Some capital is also made of the suf-brings which must be inflicted upon the farmers in the districts involved. Fortunately large numbers of them have fled before the Japanese vance, and the mortality from flooding is no' likely to be as large as if the river had run wild in times of peace. Criticism of what the Chinese have done in this regard is not. well founded, and those indulging in it appear to have come to the conclusion that if there ar any rules governing warfare, China should be expected to observe them. nese are fighting a desperate struggle with a very powerful foe, and it cannot be expected of them that they should refrain from taking whatever advantage may be gained by flooding areas through which the Japanese will have to move in their march towards Hankow. That famine may follow the flood, as it so often dea: in China is to, be regretted, but after all 11 merely adds in a small degree to the suffering of the millions of people driven from their homes and facing famine conditions even at the present moment. The Chinese policy of leaving only the scorched earth to the invader is every bit as terrible as loosing the flood waters of the Yellow River, and even if these things are considered hideous they are no more so than the very war which brings them about If the plains of Honan and Anhwei are to remain fooled for the summer months, the Japanese forces may, find their projected march on Hankow not quite so easy as it was at first believed, for it will make access to the mountains in which the Chinese are said to. contemplate a final stand very difficult, afd will probably oblige the Japanese to concentrate more on an advance along the north bank of the Yangtze,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.