AIN, for which the Shanghai policeman always prays on politically significant days, helped to keep yesterday—the seventh anniversary of the "Mukden Incident"—as: quiet and normal as any ordinary Sunday here.
It has long been an axiom in police circles that "when it rains there is no trouble," and very conveniently showers started to fall on Saturday evening and {continued through yesterday. The anniversary was one of the dullest days from the point of view of crime and political agitation that the foreign-controlled areas have experienced. Not even a robbery had been reported in the Settlement up to a late hour.
Chinese National flags were flown at half-mast throughout the Settlement and French Concession, and [were displayed also on motor-cars and in Shop-windows. A few political pamphlets were distributed, and slogans were written on some walls. One anti-Japanese slogan was found chalked on the wall of 95 Kweichow Road, near the gate of Louza Police Station, and promptly erased by a detective. Generally, however, this kind of activity was negligible.
The strictest precautions were taken by the authorities to prevent incidents of any sort. They included the closing of most of the bridges over the Soochow Creek, the barring of many streets and alleyways, particularly along Avenue Edward VII and Avenue Foch, and the constant patrolling of the important thoroughfares. In "outside" area—Chapei, Hungjao, Nantao, Pootung—the Japanese kept a sharp lookout for Chinese guerillas.
Soochow Creek bridges which were closed by barbed-wire barricades yesterday were the Chapoo Road, Vu Ya Ching. (or North Thibet) Road, Stone, Wuchou, and Markham Road bridges.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.