And while engaged in plunder and massacre, their senses get benumbed and they cannot check themselves. "The communists thus rob and kill not only their intended victims, but also those of their own ilk. A detailed account of the horrible conditions in the bandit districts, [based on the result of concrete investigations, is contained in the Sixth Report of the Rural Rehabilitation Commission. While the population of Kiangsi province was formerly over 26 millions, it. has decreased to less than 20 mil-loss of six millions, which figure unprecedented in any emer war or disturbance. Whereas [the main casualties during the wars Jot the in the past were the innocent yw form the bulk of the victims of communist terrorism. In the, so-called "Ten Thousand /Men's Pits," the corpses of thou-[sands of people are piled up in a most ruthless manner, so that the lot of the people in the bandit-infested areas is much worse than that of beasts. The devastations in the bandit areas are really horrible to imagine. Bandit' suppression is therefore. the most urgent task of the nation at pre sent. So long as this is not accomplished, all other work cannot done. How can we exterminate communist banditry? On the one} hand, we must adopt military measures; on the other, we must Jemploy political and ' economic' means to develop the productive enterprises. Only thus can the! problem be fundamentally solved.
Such being the crimes of the Jcommunist bandits, it is to be de-[plored that some people are now] working for the transformation lof the entire province of Fukien, Jnay, even the country, into bandit Jareas. This, if realised, would not
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.