"The Communists in China have also been the subject of much confused thinking. Since their first ex-plaits against the Japanese in Shans, they have been steadily losing favour, especially among the youth of the country, which has been irked so much talk and 0 little action that It no longer looks to them for the future, Moscow has sedulously retrained from using the Communists in China, taking the realistic view that the' war of resistance can be continued only by giving undivided support to the Generalissimo, Numerlcally also the Communists are elimin. {ishing in importance, and the Government, with vast new armies, confident of its ability to cope with the red divisions, as well as with the Japanese, I¢ compelled, "Moderates on both sides, however, recognize that the dispute is harmful to China's prestige, and most foreign observers believe that it will not be allowed to get out of hand, The Japanese are learning bitter lessons in' their efforts to blockade reached its lowest ebb, 'Reopening' Jof the road, British and American jeredits, Mr." Laughlin Currie's visit China and President Roosevelt's promise of assistance have hada tonic effect on the war capital, The Chinese, who have maintained from the outset that they have been fight jing for the western democracies, as well as for themselves In the common war against aggression, feel now that this has at last been recognized, "They look forward to receiving an Increasing measure of support which will not only enable them to turn the tables on the invader, but ensure their place in the world settlement. upon Which their filure peace [security depend.
'Among the changes which have been brought about in four years of Jwar in China is the frankness with Jwhich' Chinese leaders now discuss their dimeulties and dangers, Thus, Jomeials in Chungking make no secret Jot the serious problem of spiralling prices in interior provinces, anti lover this season's "food crops, the growing shortage of commodities in free' China and the Japanese attack. Jon the national currency. They are Jess willing, perhaps. to speak of the Jconfusion which still hampers much {trae over the Burma road. The appointment of Mr, John Earl Baker, Jdirector of the American Red Cross China, as head of a commission to take chafge of the road, is a big step the right direction, '"Many problems which still con~ front the Chungking authorities would bbe considered hopeless in other countries on account' of their magnitude jand complexity. But the Chinese thave proved in the past four years that they know how to contrive, hang on and survive—qualities of race and Jcharacter derived from centuries of Jeoping with nature in all her moods, "Whatever the Japanese may have felt about General Chiang Kal-shek at different times—at the moment they would desperately like to make deal with him it they could—they have never. withheld respect for his [courage and tenacity, More than once they nursed wistful hopes that his. health was failing, that his followers might melt away, that he might be {induced to take a Holiday in the United States. Never have they expressed Jany of these things in any disparag~ ing sense,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.