Arms and the Gangster Chinese sources claim Saturday's sensational shooting was perpetrated by gangsters attached to the pro-Wang Ching-wel party operating from the "badlands" in an attempt to remove opposition to Mr. Wang's political campaign in Shanghai, Japanese official sources claim it was done. by pro-Chungking gangsters. with the intention. of involving Japan and" discrediting, the Anglo-Japanese negotiations in. Tokyo, although there was in explaining. the f ut froma base Ju, the Japanese-controlled "Ta Tao" area in western Shanghai. One important fact deserving of the strictest official invest tion, Irrespective of the political inspiration of the affair, ix the source of arms used not only by Saturday's party -but by: other gangsters in the tin usual period of terrorism experienced in Shanghai this year. Every civil. war waged around Shanghai Toft its Motsam and Jetsam the presence of hundreds of deserters and semi-bandits who indulged in criminal careers the foreign areas, and Jarge quantities of arm: and ammunition became available, making arms Smuggling an unprofitable and unnecessary cupation, The recent Sino-Japanese hostilities have apparently inundated this area with me credibly large supplies, and among them chormfous quantities of hand grenades of the military type. References to Mauser pistols, with virtual machine gun attachments as fat as rapid. fire is concerned, are too common nowadays 10 deserve comment. Anybody might as well reter to the large numbers of radios oF electric {Srigerators in use, so familiar is the term, The hand grenades present another problem and the indications are there must be huge stores of these missiles somewhere because the terrorists donot seem to lack supplies. The type in general use corresponds with a German "potato masher" type shipped in Targe consign ments (0 Shanghai before' the hostilities. Concelvably, the thorough searches made by the Police of the two foreign areas at the behest the Japanese to prevent the spread of anti-Japanese terrorist acts. prove, that they are not Stored in the foreign areas. They must be out fide within easy reach of the gangsters. "It the Japanese are sincere in their. professions of complete control of the. ores with. =the jurisdiction "and the situation, in that feriminal enclave" known. as the "badlands"
compliment to the efficiency' of this con trol=then' they" must possess some. knowledge of this store of Weapons which are used 50 Fegulurly In this district. If these grenades fand other weapons are freely at the disposal fof enemies of the Japanese authorities then the appropriate action would be to immunize this Form of denyer by seizing them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.