With the outbreak of another crime wave in Shanghai, the local Japanese press is in-bulging in one of their well-known attacks upon the Shanghai Municipal Police. The "Tairiku Shimpo," on Wednesday, led off with a sharp criticism of the Police for not having up to the present apprehended the men responsible for the assassinations in the International Settlement recently, alleging that the authorities are not animated with any sincerity in their search for the culprits guilty of outrages within the Settlement, and on the extension roads. Yesterday the "Shanghai Mainichi" followed up the attack by alleging "incompetency" and "pretence" on the part of the police in dealing with the wave of terrorism, alleging that, despite official assertions, the authorities seem to be allowing the political assassins to run amok. These allegations come strangely from newspapers of a nationality which, only a few short months ago, was permitting criminals to operate out of Hongkew to assassinate men who remained loyal to the Chinese Government. The remarkable disclosures which took place on August 13 last, showing' conclusively who were behind much of the disorder which had existed up to that time, places the events which occurred in the early part of last year in a most singular light, and while at the present time no public evidence is available that Japanese-sponsored agents provocateurs are at work, the experience of last year does not justify the possibility of such a fact being ignored. It not alleged that such is the case at present, out the history of the past eighteen months does not permit of this possibility being overlooked. The fact that the victims up to the present have been in some way or other connected with the Japanese, or the Japanese sponsored City Government may mean a lot or nothing, for there are reasons to believe that some of the murders are purely factional ind not necessarily concerned with an anti-traitor campaign much as has been suggested.
The murders and outrages which have been committed may be divided into two classes,—those which have occurred within the Settlement limits, and those others which have taken place on outside roads running through territory which is supposed to be under the control of the City Government of Shanghai. With regard to the former there is not one scintilla of evidence to show that the Shanghai Municipal Police are not pursuing their investigations with the greatest of energy. The arrests and round-ups, which have been effected during the past week or so, are the completest possible justification for the contention that everything possible is being done with commendable efficiency. No police force in the world can be expected to anticipate, and thwart the acts of criminals. These latter have all the advantage of the initiative, and the conditions under which these recent murders have been committed are not productive of chances for those early solutions which in their considered caprice the Japanese journals seem to demand. But it has to be pointed out that the Police have in the past succeeded in dealing with crime waves in circumstances which have done them infinite credit, and there is not the slightest reason to believe that in the final event the war which they are waging upon these criminals will have any different result than in the past. To indulge in allegations of "incompetence" and lack of "sincerity" as these Japanese journals are doing, is but to resort to that type of rhetoric which by continual reiteration during the past eighteen months has acquired a very familiar and-unconvincing sound. To accuse men who daily risk their lives in combatting crime of this nature of "pretence" is completely to fail, whether wilfully or not, to realize the very real dangers which these men are running in the defence of the community, and to suggest that they are not really desirous of bringing these criminals to book is wantonly to close the eyes to what must be very patent facts. It may safely be" expected that the deeds of the Municipal Police, will, as they have in the past, very soon rob the words of these two journals of whatever passing significance their authors may consider them to possess.
The outrages which have occurred on the outside roads represent a very different problem. In territory, under the Japanese sponsored City Government of Shanghai, conditions have been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that the area bounded by the settlement limits and the railway has become an Alsatia, for all the rogues and thieves of Shanghai are attracted there by the wholesale illegal gambling which is being carried on unblushingly, if not with the consent of the authorities responsible, at least with their connivance. The efficiency of the police force in that area may be best exemplified by an occurrence of a few weeks ago. The Municipal Police succeeded in effecting the arrest of a number of suspicious characters. A demand was made that they should be handed over to the Chinese authorities, and this was done. In a comparatively short while it was reported that some of those men had escaped. If this is competence the word must be. acquiring an entirely new connotation, if is an example of sincerity the term must: have a meaning entirely different from that given it in the ordinary dictionaries, and if it may not actually be connivance then the! word has entirely lost its meaning. If there has been any ce-operation between the City Government of Shanghai and the Police of the International Settlement, this one example is a striking indication of its real merits. The facts are that, because of the peculiarity of the situation, the International Police are sadly hampered in dealing with the evil elements living in the area in ques tion, while at the same time there appears to be no real desire on the part of the Chinese authorities to remedy a state of affairs which is a crying disgrace. It is necessary to write strongly. For. what appear to be political reasons the members of the Municipal Police Force are being attacked in a manner which has about it not one vestige of justice. It may be that in Japanese eyes the i newspapers in question are building up a case against the force, but those journals may rest assured that it carries no conviction in the eyes of others less prejudiced.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.