New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-19

the bottom OF the treasury without
any particular effort, but for the lie
Of him could not see his way clear IN
meeting the pressing bills just 10 carry
on tho Chinese government from day
10 day. And in all the sad and moss
coated history os financial China, never
was there A time when the nationa.
treasury cried for a loan Of some sort.
Of any old sort, as it is doing right
, now.
And the one thing which gives such
n black and sinister complexion to this
bsnd-to-mouth finance Of China ~ the
Chinese army.
Blame Placed on Army
In other lands the army is the keeper
of order within; il defends the country
against the enemy from without Inc
Chinese army is unique in that 1t Is the
constant and persistent threat against
the peace and order of the land IL Is
absolutely urele,s against the modern
army Of her neighbors. 1t is even use
less against the roaming tribesmen OF
Tibet; il has proven its worthlessness
against the robber bands Of Manchuris
and inner Mongolia even 70 its own
satisfaction.
More than 100000 men of the Chi
nese regular army tried to catch the
now famous white Wolf Band" That
WAS in 1914. And the white WOLF
Band" was nothing but collection oil q
little more than 1000 robbers, who, IN
the face of three divisions of the CHI
nese army trying TO bring them 70 JUS
, tice, forsooth. started from Human
crossed over to the Eastern seaboard
IN the city Of Liuanchow. which Is
within a few hundred miles from the
coast, faced about and crossed the
whole width of China, literally to her
western boundary, burning cities, Kill
ing men and rayishing women as they
went, and, not content with that,
doubled back to their starting point
For six long, weary months the Chi
nese army tracked, surrounded and
formed "cordons" without number
about them and in the end did not
catch them. To save the situation the
members of the white Wolf Band
cut themselves into merry companies OF
thirty to forty men and Joined the Re
publican army of China in the end!
But in no way does the Chinese army
prove Itself as deadly as in its dealing
with the finance of the country. Let us
20 back to the incident at Canton
which is so recent that the American
METROPOLITAN dailies have not carried a
single column on it as yet.
Difficult to Disband Troops
General Lung was the Tuchun-as
the military governor Of province is
called of the Kuangtung Province
The rebels under the famous Republi-
can leader, Tsen Chun-hsuan, attacked
him at Canton. The rebel leader was
reported to have under him some $4,000
men, 10000 of whom were ex-pirates
General Lung had been successful in
fighting off the attacks of the rebels
and keeping the city of Canton from
being plundered. But, of course, in his
work he had 70 have number of sol
diers, and he had gathered them out OF
the usual source-among the coolies,
outlaws and so on. Now. few months
ago, the central government at Peking
appointed new military governor to
succeed General Lung. The new man,
whose name is General Lu, went down
10 Canton, obeying the order Of the
central government.
In America or in Japan nothing could
have been simpler-General Lung
would have turned over his forces to
General Lu, his successor. That would
have been about all. Being a Chinese
general over Chinese soldiers-he had
$4,000 men under him-General Lung
demanded of the central government
the payment of 100000. He wanted
that amount to pay of his soldiers in
order to disband them. Those men had
not had their pay for some time, and
they would not think of disbanding un-
til they are paid in full and with some
thing besides as bounty. But why dis
band them? Why would not the new
military governor take them over I'M
der his command? In the first place,
the newly appointed governor has his
own men, numbering some 10000. More
over, he would not think of such a
thing as retaining the men gathered
under his predecessors command they
are little better than outlaws, Which
is true enough. 1t is also true that the
10000 of his own men are not whit
less disreputable. There was nothing
to do but to disband the men under
General Lung.
Soldiers Loot if Not Paid
Suppose, now, the central government
would not pay General Lung the 49,
100000 he ssks-what then? He would
simply stay in Canton with his men.
And what would mis- men do when they