June While for the time being certain aspects of the strike at the Lun Chang mills in Pootung cannot be dealt with as they ought, it is possible to draw attention to the strike itself and the factors behind it, for whatever may have been the reasons which led to its being called, there cannot be the slightest doubt now that this strike, and others which ay be in contemplation are being fostered for what appear to be purely political ends. Without any qualification whatever it, may be safely asserted that what is happening in Pootung is part and parcel of the Japanese inspired anti-British campaign which is be~ ing prosecuted with such vigour in practical~ all places which happen at the moment to be under Japanese control, and is one of the means by which the Japanese hope to drive British interests and traders out of China despite all the promises which have been given regarding the "scrupulous re~ spect" which was to be paid to the rights and interests of all third party neutrals in China, The matter is one of considerable importance, not only to Britons trading and residing. in China but all other foreigners ax well, for they may be certain that what the Japanese are now endeavouring to do to the British they will seek to effect against those others n their turn. It is only to be expected that Britons in China would be the first attacked, for if the move were to succeed against them, the task of eradicating other foreign inter= ests would be all the easier, The issue may for the moment be joined between the British a the Japanese, but there is every reason to believe that ultimately all foreign interests n Japanese occupied China will be similarly threatened. 'To make the matter quite plain the present strike in. Pootung, and those which may occur in the future' are not the result of the spontaneous action of the nese workers arising out of some fancied real grievance, but has been carefully and sedulously fostered by Japanese agencies, as part of the general antieBritish campaign, with perhaps some sordid ancial end in view which it should not be difficult for th; most casual reader to perceive.
With all the clamour which the Japanese over alleged anti-Japanese activities their own conduct is open to very severe iticisin, Parades of workers, such as that which ocemred in Pootung on' June 1 in an rea completely under Japanese control, could not possibly have taken place without cither the knowledge or consent of the Japanese. They could, if they had wished, have stopped it, but the fact that the lowed such a demi curious light when viewed in connection with other circumstances. The Japanese owned
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.