Impressions of the situation in Sian must of necessity be confused, The Blend "of sweet reasonableness with desperate declarations, of cheerful care-free countenances with sinister and terrifying aspects, cannot but mystifying. Yet the onus of a possible civil' war Is predicted, Tt Is 0 thought which cannot be comfortably entertained by those who have lately eon on the scene of the Generallssimo's detention, General Yang Tu-cheng and his chief commander, General Sun Wel-Ju, mean business, They ave taking no risks. Three lines of trenches have been constructed about 40 miles eastward of Sian near the village of the Red Waters and stretching as far north as Pucheng, the ancestral city of General Yang. Well dug and. wired, these trenches face the concentration of Government troops at Tungkwan, about 45 miles away, In between there are not much signs of military activity, although every village has its ttle group of Government soldiers sent out from Tungkwan where an armoured train Is to be seen, The Shens! commander at Tall has dofnitely thrown In his Tot with the Central Government, His. defection: has been a di River at present, The railway line from Sian to Loyang has been destroyed in two places by the bomb-{ng operations of last month, {Communism Disclaimed General Yang Hu-cheng ts a man of considerable wealth. Neither or any commander of the former North-Eastern troops has, the desire to adopt Communist principles. They Aisclaim Red" tendencies, but they have evidently been much influenced by the new attitude of the Communists in Shensi, The common bond {sa conviction that the national forests of China require a solld front against foreign aggression, by which they plainly mean Japan. "Kang Sth" La the expression they use to Indicate that bond. With them General Chiang Kal-shek is personally popular. 'They have the same feeling toward him' as the Enalishman has. towards one whom he describes as q "Gentleman." They are not so cordial toward Nanking where they affect to discern too complaisant an attitude in the face of Japanese pressure, In Sian the wiry ttle hero of the Nonnt River fighting of 1981, General Ma Chan-san—full of spirits, an tree conchable foe to Japan, and one of the ablest counseitors with General Yang. The comradeship of guerrilla warfare—banditry if you Ike—seems, to nave the Shensi trocos a feeling of sympathy with the Red. armies; this forther assisted by the comparison of the conditions of service with those Ju and around Nanking.
The Ted Proposals What of the Rede? 1 is dimeutt to dogmatize. un itteult to rebut the' slew that Nanking cannot afford ton the eonseationees of parleying weir them, "Pet the fed Tenders Beet that they: do "not want {og Ehinese."Theymor" some of theme fre reported to have definitely Under taken to ut their avmles atthe Dean! of the Cental Government and to neal the satitaction of thie pel teat igrevances' by" eonsttatonai means under the shelter of the Three Prinetpls. so land as ther ist united Front aint th Yoel aggressor, ned arises this attitude—or rather they are "They do mot perceive the danger of
content to ignore it, for they hold that ie'matiers not. i Javan' does get Control of the 'Treaty Ports. "Al that tunis in Chine for them isthe me ferior' where, they" maintain, under proper arrangements. the county. can bovrelt-rupoorting. hele propaganda remarabiy- effective, "they have ood "speakers "and in. Sinn" daly foveches are made." Plays, (00, Help. For example, the other day lite was {he presemintion of a tragedy in Who the son ofthe house was" expected, tern good. Communist, to remove nis Feactlonary father, Eventually. the Cnireaies of hie mother" and" seer revalled_ andthe father was duly Bolsoned ~"'a grim drama on: which eloquent speaker Smmediately gave address (o paint the moral, if te Wordmay be used, to 8 Targe.and attentive audience.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.