At Tungkuan, before one proceeds across the Sian plain to the city of the Tangs, there is a very severe Customs office, so one may guess why imported goods are dear in west China when they have to pass at least five Customs, besides pay the exactions of various factions and partisans on the road.
The final and most troublesome was at Sian gate, where only the great face of the hospital won the day. The duties are so high that the goods of some merchants have been unmovable for many months. To this cause must be added the effect of the exchange rate of the Chinese dollar, the tremendous cost of transportation, and the rising standard of living due to influx of the educated and wealthy from the eastern seaboard. As to wheat, cotton and coal, despite their abundance, hoarding for military and domestic purposes has been the greatest cause of the high cost of living here.
With regard to the living costs in Shensi of foreigners—coal per ton, wheat flour per cattle, meat, vegetables, rape-oil, fruit, eggs, milk, cotton and Chinese tea, in 1937 the basis rate or uni was $87. In February 1940 it had vanced to $443 or five times more. In December 1940 the figure was $1,414, ie, sixteen times more than before the war. On the other hand, the exchange on sterling is only four times more.
Kerosene $30 per Gallon Kerosene cost $150 for five gallons and Chienmen cigarettes a dollar apiece. One of the biggest items, coal, will be cheaper soon since the railway made of material brought from the old Pinghan will connect Sian with the mines in northern Shensi, thus cutting out the prohibitive cost of animal transport and crossing of rivers. This ease of transport plus Government control of stocks will also bring down the cost of wheat and cotton, Moreove; due to expansion of industry, ease of communications, propitious weather and conscription, there is plenty of work for everyone even the refugee problem has nearly solved itself. So that the general here (specially since the cessation of bombing of the northwest) is one of contented confidence. And the quiet stalemated China is g stock of the forces which have been ed in the slow finds of re-national pride
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.