"A few words may here be added concerning our impressions of cer~ tain aspects of the frontier situa-ton, The youth of our nation are collected targely Inthe cities and. towns, while the agricultural "population also overcrowd our arable areas.
The result is that in the overpopulated ities there is not enough work to go round, hence much unemployment. Farmiands, too, are insulficlfont fo feed the number they are call-upon to. support; many farmers are idle because there is no land for them to till. Conditions in' the border regions, however, are quite the contrary. Th the areas inhabited' by the Shan'tribes there is not a single beggar to be seen; not only does every able-bodied man have his parcel of-land,-but there is a, super= abundance of arable ground. Migration to these frontier territories. therefore the logical and imperative solution to the problems of unci ployment and land deficiency.
Yet closer enquiry reveals that the migratory: movement toward the sparsely populated frontiers has made no headway at all during the past several hundred years by reason of deep-seated fear of a fever-ridden climate. This fear is really not without foundation, as we discovered in the Sze-Pu districts, where intermit. font epidemics have in the course of the Jast fifteen or sixteen years reduced the population from 200,000 to mere 20,000. In March and April this year occurred the last epidemic, during which many deaths took place within 24 hours of the manifestation of feverish symptoms. We through these districts just two weeks atter the worst of it was over; hut many of the inhabitants, we heard, were thinking of moving away healthier parts, while others who had been planning to settle down were deterred by these reports and remained where they were. What a1
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.