By order of the Central Gover mont, Gen, Liu Hsiang, one of the stongest warlords. of "pre-Nanking days, was then made Chairman the Provincial Government, and put command of the Provincial army. Many rival warlords were given high commands of provincial army groups Under Gen, Liu Hsiang. A. huge Provincial army remained in exist nee, but unified under one com= mand. As regards the Mnancing of this army, this from now on depend. ced largely on the Central Government, Ilogal taxation, up to then one of the main sources of income for local armies, had been abolished by the Generalissimo, to a consider able degree, so that the Provincial Government came to depend more and more on contributions from Nanking.
'To give an example: in the Provineial budget for the year 1936-1 the total expenditure of $86,000,000 embraced $41,000,000 for" military purposes. OF the' total Income the budget provided that as much as '$50,000,000, or more than the equivs Tent of the military expenses, were to come from Ceniral- Government sources. 'The budlet for the fiscal year 1097-6 1s much alike the one Yor the year' before, This clearly demonstrates, the firm grip Nanking obtained on "the Provincial Govern= ment by means of financial dependence, Government Troops Better addition, a considerable force of the Central Government's own troops were stationed in. Szechuen. Provisional Headquarters established in Chungking, and troops distributed aver the larger cities and rural dis-Lits of the province, Iwas interesting to observe the difference Wetween Nanking and Provincial troops, From the beginning superior physical appearance, equipment raining and behaviour, the Nanking troops improved parallel to the gen-feral progress made by the National army during the last two years, whereas the Provincial troops, as a rule, did not appear to represent a military body which could be reckon-with in actual warfare, The em cient Gon. Ho Kuo-king was made Ofleer-in-Charge of the Generalissimo's Headquarters Chungking. But as time went on, his authority went far beyond the military sphere. He and bls star soon began to concern. themselves with political and economical as well as with financial, social, and educa-anal questions, and the voice of Nanking was heard more snd more ait "Important decisions concern ing the province.
Szechuen for Szechuenese It isnot surprising that such changes did not happen without sel-[backs and attempts from interested quarters to bring. back independence from Nanking. The provincial mind of the Szechuenese is well known and certainly opposed, to a large degree, to centralization and domination by a Central Government. But what is more, the interests of the powerful in the military," financial, and trading field of pre-Nanking jays were at stake, Thus, on the two occasions when, Jin 1936, the Central Government met major Interior dimeulties, viz. the resistance of the two" Kwang's jand the "Sian coup, strong rumours were current that: local opposers of Nanking would join the anti-Nanking forces at work In other parts of the tne m country. Particularly on the occasion of the Sian troubles it was uncon-
Armedly reported that a representative of the Provincial Government was about to fly fo Nanking in order present there an "ultimatum," when the aeroplane, just taking off, burned on the hangar in Chengtu, on which occasion Incidentally no personal damage occurred, Meantime, Gen, Chiang Kai-shek was released in Sian, the following day. True or not true, there sul cient indications that forces wer and are active to. bring about separation from Nanking.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.