Discussions at the meeting of the Joint Com mittee of the Shanghai Women's Organization:
January 18, indicate that something Is de-Gnitely being done in regard to the local beggar problem. On the face of i, Shanghai's streets not reveal much evidence of any movement {to eliminate the nuisance but the explanation probably lies in the fact that the problem is great and has been magnified since the Outbreak of hostilities. The Salvation Arm; Jand other organizations. with the ce-operation Jot the foreign municipal authorities, have established camps and useful work is being done by concentrating on the juvenile angle Jand removing the youngsters from the streets, training them to become useful citizens, and Introducing them to the world again as useful persons instead of permitting them through the terrible process of human da-gradation, ably assisted by bullying taskmasters, Juntil they become pariahs. The discussions revealed that organization which permeates Jand controls most Chinese abuses flourishes in the beggar field. After the horde of shapeless, horrible, deformed humanity—some of which ig deliberately created for the business—hax of begging, fs and strays the streets and yet into the tures of the Fagin type colloqui= ally called "wild uncles." who exploit them Jand keep them in permanent bondage through cruelty, and live on their earnings. These are the youngsters upon whom efforts are being directed a1 present by reformers and it is 3 tribute to the genuine feelings of these youngsters that at one Salvation Army school only three left after having been taken in for trains ing and education. The hostilities have com plicated the problem and hupdteds of homeless Chinese children are on the streets and evenly fall into the hands of these "wild un-The large army at loose on The Bund, Jarmed with brooms and baskets, preying on the lorries unloading rice, wheat, cotton ete, from bouts in the Whangpoo, furnish a good iliustration. Under the guise of sweeping up the spillage. led by much older people, they 1 Jopen bags and baskets and pilfer cotton bale: jin a manner only slightly removed from theft Prosecutions at the District Court have proved that there" is a well-organized band a work, stealing under the pretence fof starvation and selling the proceeds at the fend of the day to others who make a handsome Tiving our of the business. It would need almost the entire Pol 4 but even if suppression were possible it would not solve the problem of these hapless children who, for bare sustenance, defy the law to enrich' these exploiters who deserve far sterner Punishment than Chinese law provides. They are simply nals out-of young boys: fand girls, victims of economic cireumstanc The discussions of the women's organizations Jdraw attention to the seriousness of the problem but, without detracting from the value lof the work already initiated, something more should be done, not only in regard to the children but to the unwanted hordes who have Jéescended on the foreign areas and ply their trade.
For sale, Giles's Chinese Dictionary; second edition. in good condition. Box 422, NCDN, the film based on the Vieloria, is now being shown The name of the Anglo-Hellenic Steamship Company has been struck off the Register of British Companies. in Chins Donations and gifts in kind are urgently needed by the Committee caring for European Jewish Reruxees in Shanghai.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.