Shanghai will be completely in the dark as to the reasons for the assassination of Dr. Herman C. E. Liu in Bubbling Well Road yesterday, for from the accounts to hand it is clear that the assassins had him alone in view, and that when they had shot him they sought to make good their escape, in which they were successful. Dr. Liu at the early age of 42 years had established his reputation as being one of the outstanding Chinese educationalists of the day. He and his wife were active at all times in educational and social work, and Dr. Liu in particular was the type of man who makes life one long period of service. He was active also in the cause of peace, and besides being a delegate to the conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Banff, in 1933, he was one of the founders of the China Institute of Intornational Relations and of the Anti-Civil War League of China. As president of the University of Shanghai Dr. Liu did excellent work and his death will be regretted by the many students who profited by his teaching and advice. In thus paying passing tribute to a man whose life was a model to his fellows nothing but the deepest abhorrence can be felt for the manner in which he has been done to death. There is always something so cowardly in the work of the assassin, lurking to catch his victim unaware and shooting him down without the least scruple, that sorrow for the loss of a gocd man must not obscure the hope that every endeavour will be made to bring his murderers to justice. The search for the culprits is made all the more difficult by conditions prevailing around Shanghai, but such obstacles have been surmounted in the past and it is hoped that they will be again. If this is another instance of the political warfare which has led to other similar murders recently, every effort should be taken to bring those responsible to book, for it is intolerable that this International Settlement should be made the battle ground of warring political creeds at a time when it needs every particle of neutrality with which it can invest itself, Bark-Less Dogs One of the most loudly proclaimed annoyances, especially at night, is the barking or whining dog. To the dog lover, it is inconceivable that there are features about a dog which encourage homicidal tendencies in the next-door neighbour, but the situation remains as it is with somebody paying the price of somebody else's pleasure. In the United States, there has been a wide revival of agitation to eliminate the dog barking nuisance by removing the bark pathologically, The system is to perform an operation on the dog's throat which destroys his power to bark or utter any other loud sound. This has been adopted by many people who seek the services of the few veterinarian surgeons who will consent io perform the operation and have the bark removed in order to avoid annoying neighbours and escape the legal penalties which are inflicted under the heading of permitting a "nuisance." This is a hard world in which cruelty of all kinds is committed under different guises, but it does seem a rather severe practice on a dumb animal and, very rightly, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is vigorously opposing the custom in the United States although there is no improvement in the exacerbated feelings of the neigh-hour whose rest is interrupted. As one dog-lover remarked "a dog without a bark is only half a dog. I don't think it should be done except where you eliminate the bark or the dog." It is all a question of tolerance and a little more tolerance nowadays would make this happier world without resorting to cruelty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.