Peiping, Mar. 8.
The spotlight locally has shifted from. political affairs to the economic situation, and'even the forthcoming Central Political Conference at Nan-King, at Which the future political status of North China will possibly be decided, cannot obscure or even rival ihe serious and rapidly worsening food situation.
Despite all efforts by the authorities, the food situation shows all signs of developing into a major tragedy, and it is a wonder that the Chinese are able to exist at all under present conditions.
According to the latest figures, it costs for à family twice as much to subsist on the meanest fare as its monthly income. Already there have been near riots in Peiping.
Hundreds are gathering daily at food shops. The most tragic scenes are witnessed as crowds of half-starving Chinese, including women and children, gather in the hope of assing food, which is either nonexistent granos at exorbitant prices, or in the hands of lous
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.