July 1.
Yesterday Mr, Stirling Fessenden, Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Council, terminated his connection with that body after a relationship which has lasted nineteen years. It was in 1920 that Mr, Fessenden was elected to the Shanghai Municipal Council, and on the retirement of Mr. H. G. Simms in 1923, was chosen chairman, a swift promotion indeed, but an early recognition of the qualities of the man. He was already an old resident of Shanghai when he sought the suffrages of the rat avers, and in his work in Shanghai as lawyer he had gained the confidence of al with whom he came in contact, so that his selection as an American representative on the Municipal Council was not only the apointment of a suitable man for a task which even in those days was of importance, but was in itself recognition of the niche which Mr, Fessenden had already carved for himself in the community. There were very few who realized when he was elevated to the position of chairman that the Council was making a choice which might have a con= siderable bearing upon the history of the International Settlement, The movement led by Chiang Kai-shek in Canton, and which was ultimately to sweep over the whole of China, was only simmering. War lords held sway'in the remainder of the country. Shanghai was on the verge of entering into the most important phase of its history, a phase which has not yet terminated, and one in which the whole future of the place may be decided. Sixieon years is a long time, but probably Mr. Fessenden will find that with all the exciting times with which he has had to deal that it has passed all too quickly. He had been chairman of the 'Munfeipal Council something over two years when the May 30 incident, of 1925, occurred, and the first serious crisis' of the many with Which he had to deal was upon his shoulders. There had been various wars around Shanghai calling for the exercise of the greatest tact and diplomacy, but this was the first internal trouble of' major proportions with which he had to deal. That it was handled well must be the verdict of history.
Two years later the Nationalist movement had reached the Yangtze, and its armies had captured Shanghai, The threat to the foreign areas was such that Great Britain sent a division for its-protection, while other Powers also supplied very considerable reinforcement. During this crisis the quiet confidence of the man at the head of the Municipal Council was in itself an inspiration, for he faced the problems presented with' a cool determination, and a ready grasp of the difficulties of the situation. Mr. Fessenden' would, naturally, not elaim'all the credit for the policy of the Council in such a time as that, but there cannot be the slightest doubt that his knowledge of the place, and natural sagacity enabled him to give it advice which is to be commended for accepting. On the retirement of Major Hilton Johnson, in 1928, Mr. Fessenden took over many of his duties as Commissioner-General, receiving an] honorarium for so doing, but it was found that the duties were of so onerous a nature that he had little or no time for his legal business, and he was obliged to inform the Council that he could no longer act for them. In preference to losing his services altogether the Council asked him to accept the position of Director-General, and to devote his whole energy to the carrying out of the!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.