April 4.
Recent developments in Hankow should! give the Japanese furiously to think, for the appointment of Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek as virtually dictator of China, amounts to an endorsement of his policy by the Kuomintang. The General Executive of the Party has in fact passed a vote of confidence in its leader, and that despite the defeats which the Japanese have up to the present] been able to inflict upon the Chinese armies in the field, The Kuomintang Congress has elevated the Generalissimo to a position only held before by Sun Yat-sen, and because of that fact has done him an unparalleled honour. While, on the face of it, it would seem that powers of a dictator have been conferred upon him it is clear that there are certain limitations the most important of which concerns the Party's decision to adhere to the principles of the San Min Chu thereby making it quite clear that there is possibility of the Communists ever being allowed to dominate the Government. That] is the claim which is made, though historians will realize that this is rather the declaration of a pious wish regarding the future than an exclusion of possibilities. It is always possible that Communism might grow to such an extent in China that the Kuomintang} might be ousted from power, and. the} resolution governing that point merely emphasized that, as long as the Kuomintang is} in control, the Communist party'in China will have to accept 4 back seat in the government the country.) That Japan by her action is driving the Chinese nation into the arms} of Bolshevism is only" too plain, and if it succeeds in bringing about the downfall of] the Kuomintang there is more than a grave Ganger that those political sentiments which are anathema to the Japanese will obtain a greater hold upon the country than they have at present, This is a very obvious fact; and the existence of the Kuomintang is the only, real guarantee that all that large portion of China, which has not yet and may never fall into the hands of Japan, will not one day} become communist through the desperation] which the Japanese campaigns are engendering. At the moment that desperation is directed towards the successful conclusion of present hostilities, but ultimate, defeat may very well mean that China would turn to communism.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.