May 13.
'The issue of the joint proclamation by the authorities of the French Concession, and the International Settlement, levelled' against those engaged in propagating disorders with~ in those areas, Is to be welcomed not only as a step in the right direction, but as a striking demonstration of the community of interests between them. It is Imperative that the neutrality of the foreign areas of Shanghai shall be maintained in the completost integrity, and the more definitely it is brought home to those seeking to stir up turmoil that their activities will not be toler= ated the better for the foreign areas, and the millions of people they shelter, There is Historical precedent for the insistence upon the neutrality of the foreign portions of Shanghai. It is to be found in the Sino-Japanese war, when the neutrality of Shang hai was especially provided for, and there is no reason why that should not be insisted upon now, and fully maintained. That can~ not occur, however, if the areas under foreign control are to be used by pro-Chinese and pro-Japanese terrorists for the purpose of! carrying on their nefarious activities, and the proclamation is to be taken as levelled against oth those classes, and not solely against those who for what they are pleased to call patrio~ tie motives seek to wage a subtler against the Japanese who are in control of the surrounding areas. It is an under fact that, upon the outbreak of hostilities in 1937, hundreds of thousands of Chinese fed from the environs of Shanghai seeking that asylum which only neutrality could provide. Poss ind reds of thousands owe their existences the presence of this convenient refuge at their very doors, and the enormous "amount of assistance which was provided for them through, to a great extent, the charitable activities of the normal residents of the place. It ig not believed that those poor wretches are behind the terrorism of which there I been too much evidence in the past, but rather those men who have percolated into the foreign areas from Japanese occupied dis~ tricts for the purpose of carrying on struggle against the invaders.
They should be stopped by any means available. It is definitely against the best interests of the Chinese resident in the foreign areas that the latter should be made the cockpit for activities calculated destroy that neutrality which tive authorities of both sections have sought, and are seeking] loyally to preserve. Associations of a political
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.