It would be unreasonable to expect the Szechuen authorities to secure the release of the Rev. Howard A.
Smith, the American member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance who was taken captive on May 9 at Pengshui, the moment the order had been given. Ho Lung has for so Jong eluded pursuit by picked units of the Central Government forces, that it could hardly be expected that the divided ind far from efficiently controlled troops now nominally combined under the command of Gen. Liu Hsiang could do what the others found impossible. Neverthe-loss it is to be hoped that the Central Government will continue to tung pressure to bear on the Szechuen provincial rulers, and that the unhappy predicament of the foreigner and his Chinese fellow-captives. will not be lost sight of in the consideration of apparently more national issues, such as reform of finances, rural reconstruction, and the many other major problems being so, courageously tackleg by Nanking. The fact that it is pétsible for roving Communist-bandits to seize a town anywhere in China—the fact that security is practically at the mercy of any leader bold enough to violate it fu the less accessible parts of the country, is itself one of the most important problems the nation has to face. Reconstruction will be wasted 50, long as bandits can immediately appropriate its benefits to themselves. Capital cannot be induced to return to the interior while there is a fair chance that it may be dissipated by the lawless. One capture of American may undo the work of a twelve-month to better the outlook of China in the eyes of the United States. And on the other side, energetic and undelayed measures"to release the captive may be cited as proof of the Central Government's Sincerity in reform. These considerations are doubtless nothing _new to the authorities concerned. Sympathy with Mrs. Smith in her anxiety for her husband's safety must re-enforce them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.