To the Editor of the "NogrH-CuiNA Darry News"
Sm,—From May 18 to June 20 of this year, I put forth an effort in your valued columns to rouse the parents of. Shanghai school-children from their lethargy in respect of the increased school fees, The response was practically nil and I took an effort to Monument Road and buried it under a monument with the assistance of the Municipal Ord and members of the Municipal "Council, Now. when the school fees are due for payment, parents are beginning to realize what these actually mean in relation' to their budgets and their incomes, the Orchestra and the divers: the money spent on this luxury necessary hospitalization and/or reduction of school fees. has invented a system of bursaries which. whilst they do mot meet the needs of the situation, are better than nothing at all.
The Council takes the view that the schools ought to look after themselves and ought to be self-supporting and that the responsibility of the Council in this connection must gradually tions. but how lacking in the finesse of his earlier productions!
Not so with Shanghai's masterly cartoonist, Slackness, staleness, slapdash "good-enough" crüdities find no place in Sapajou's art. The man is a genius àn outstanding genius. and. like the greatest of talented artists. he is obviously wedded to his high art. and. loving it to the finest detail. his affection intensifies with age. His most recent productions surpass his previous work, His sketch this morning 1s a gem of the richest grade. in which the almost unnecessary wealth of detail. fetial expressions, shading, etc, indicate the artist's zest for his work, even on a cartoon which is but to tickle public interest for a day!
I am surfeited with war! So jaded and blase. that the killing of another million men fails to, arouse horror Or even casual interest, My mind is addled with the baffling muddle of all this inane mass murder. I need a stimulating mental tonic to save my sanity. Sapajou pops up almost daily with some freslf gem of wit, some refreshing slant on current conditions. incidents or foibles, and^makes me smile again!
I have not had 4he honour of meeting him. although he has been my worthy élpful friend for several years, I understand that he is abnormally modes! and retiring. but I feel that a word of public appreciation is most timely and deserved. so this humble tribute Shanghai. Sept, 6. cease, However. the Council has never explained why the same thing should not apply. even to a more immediate extent, to the Municipal Orchestra. Schooling, hospitalization are positive necessaries, An equally positive nonnecessary is the Orchestra, I doubt whether most people in Shanghai realize how difficult it is. for instance. to place a mentally deranged person in a suitable institution, Even if it is possible to find a place for such an unfortunate case. the costs are entirely beyond the pockets of people with small or even moderate incomes, A man cornin around $600 a month may have the misfortune of having to provide for ihe accommodation of a mentally deranged member of his family. The fees for such care come to in the neighbourhood of $400 per month Further comment is needless, but the example quoted just emphasizes how totally inadequate provisions for hospitalization of the poor are in Shanghai, Tu the face of this. it is hard to understand how the Council can continue 1o pursue its policy of supporting the Orchestra instead of diverting the funds earmarked for a pronounced luxury to the needs of equally pronounced and neglected necessities.
Surely it is more important that children should obtain a good schooling and that, if their parents cannot afford the fees such schooling be granted free of charge; and. surely. it is also necessary that free hospi talization in reasonable sufficiency for the poor be provided, It is a question of music contra hospitalization and schooling. and no one with a correct conception of social needs will be in doubt as to what comes first, I have ventilated this question in your hospitable columns for many years past, But the Orchestra still oes on and will continue until the voices of protest will be sufficiently numerous and loud to "drown the music produced by his, for these times, superfidous luxury.
Then. perhaps. the Municipal Council will take notice.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.