To the Baitor of the I have turned up a, dictionary to jeheck up on the word "initiative" It slated to mean the first active procedure in any enterprise' ote. I was curious about its meaning on Teading in the Municipal Gazette of March" 29. a statement under the above heading commencing: "The [Council has taken the initiative. My: impression was that Brigadier 'Morris of the Salvation Army. took the. initiative when he appealed through The North-China Daily News of January 25 under a heading that spoke of the 'Ghastly' tale of daily deaths' and in one part of the letter said: "If you can through the columns of your esteerped paper stir up interest..." Brigadier Morris "mentioned that from. that hight the Salvation Army was distributing bolled hot rice "and. In addition decided to pick up all the children wherever possible and take thorn to the Army camp. 'The plight of the sufferers had been the subject fof Telters in the press from time to time during the cold weather and the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury' several times featured it. The Editor of the Evening Post in special article on January 10, commented: "Never have our streets been the scene of greater human misery than they are. today. Tt pears that the police are more up against it" than ever before, having no time or inclination to keep up the futile, sometimes cruel task of gathering these people and. transporting them out "of the foreign' area boundaries from which they drift back again to the downtown arcas. That never was much of a. system yet nothing better has offered, it Would seem." The action that. Brigadier Morris took {s claimed to have saved thousands of lives and he must be given full credit of the in-Itiative he took to alleviate human suffering. As a mark of appreciation his name might be forwarded to the Royal Humane Society although he Inimselt will fect fully recognized in the results of his work in the ser vice to which he has devoted himself, It would appear from the announcement today that the Salvation Army is to continue to handle the practical side of the task of ear-ting for the destitute.
Canny ox Brucaoien, Shanghai, Mar. 30.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.