Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-21
China in France
By Frederic ]. Haskin

were filled by the usual, varied and rest
less stream Of humanity. Among the
crowd the men discerned a young Chinese,
dressed in the garb of a Y. NJ {. A.
field secretary. Despite a certain Mongol
inscrutability, his face wore the expectant
look of one about to do something he
has never done before.
Vow, what on earth is he?' said the
first man
Search me, replied the other, may
be he's chaplain 10 conscrIpted laundry
men
The young Chinaman, as it happened,
was member Of the senior class OF
Columbia University, who had sacrificed
his degree for the purpose of serving with
the Chinese army at the western front.
He sailed for France few days later.
CHINA rs IN THE WAR
There are some Americans who do not
know that China is in the war. There are
great many Americans who do not
know that China has an army in France.
And there are very few Americans who
know Just how extensive a part China Is
taking in the struggle The newspapers
have given little mention to IL and II IS
seldom that China Is mentioned IN the
war dispatches
1t is fact, though that there are now
| considerably more than 2O0. 900 Chnamen
IN France, and very large number OF
them with the allies in Russia II - true
that the Chinese are not occupying trench
| es of the front line and that not more than
a handful have seen actual fighting
| and then only by accident But they are
performing for our cause work OF
| such vital importance that their sudden
| removal would seriously cripple, IT not
| paralyze, parts Of the French, British
| and American war activities.
When China aligned herself with
nations embattled against Germany,
| there was considerable speculation among
| diplomats and others, as to what part
| she might be expected to take in the war
| Some were Of the opinion that the best
she could do would be 10 lend whatever
assistance was possible 10 Japan in her
| policing of the east Some thought she
might send small army 10 one Of the
| fronts
What there was Of the Chinese army
was well trained but sadly lacking in
| equipment There were hardly enough
| uniforms, next 10 no guns and ammunl-
| ton and no railroads and ships where
| with 10 transport an army. BESIDES,
/ internal disturbances indicated that China
would need something Of an army at
| home. Moreover, the development Of the
war program IN the United States showed
the allies to have sufficiency Of man
power. But China did have one thing
which Frame, England and 70 some
| extent, America needed badly. That was
labor
IN USE As LABoRBRS
/ So it was that French British and
/ Chinese statesmen decided that an army
of Chinese laborers should be sent 10 the
/ battle zones 30 1t was that recruiting
agents, some Of them Cinnamon 1nd
some OccldentaIs, were sent INTO Northern
| China 10 enlist workers for the Chinese
| National Labor Army Ii has been said
often that the best laborers IN the world
come from the provinces Of Chill. Honan
| and Shantung, so recruiting was limited
| to those three areas. The service was
made voluntary one and the appeals
| which were made were made 10 patriotism,
the prospects of better food and pay, and
to the spirit Of adventure said TO be
! latent In every Chinese heart.
There vas an unexpected response
which surprised and delighted the re-
cruters. force Of twenty thousand
was sent first, and additional groups
quickly followed. There are now more
than 200. 600 of them and in another
few months this number may be increased
by half. Also, when the Allies made their
invasion of Siberia, strong force OF
Chinese went with them Just how large
this force is cannot he learned.
The Chinese IN France, according "a
men who have seen them, all belong tC
the lower class OF provincIals, poor, lg-
norant, "a bit superstItIous, they are
typical coolies But they are cheerful
capable and painstaking worknen and
when necessity came they showed them
selves courageous soldiers as We'll A:
Mr. Chao OF the Legation at Washington
proudly puts it, They are 100 per cent
Chinese
The men are of all ages between eighteen
and fifty Few of them can read or write
but all of them have the Chinese capacity
for hard work Some have been set K
work in munitions factories. behind tbs
lines Others of the more hardly art
engaged TO construct railroads. bridge
and military roads. They prepare fortl-
fications and repair damaged farms anc
houses. Their work Is very similar tC
that of our own reconstruction units anC
railway engineers. A large number o.
them, farmers by breeding, have beer
employed TO cultivate and raise crops OF
the soil reclaimed from the Germans
HOW THEY RE- ORGANIZED.
The members of the Chinese Nationa
Labor Army wear military uniform oi
orthodox and Occidental design The
army is divided into bsttahonS under
command of captains who are usually
Europeans or Americans who speak Chi
nese. Many of these captains have for
merlV been missionaries. There are alSt
Chinese officers with the title of chief
They are mostly recruited from the educar
ed classes Their rank corresponds t,
that of sergeant \ rigid military dIsci
pline prevails through out The mel
rise to the call of bugle, and are inspected
IN military formation. There are period,
of drill and manoeuvre The pay of 3
member of the Labor Army averages
about 73 cents a day
During the first wild fury of the late
German offensive in lower Picardy. wheT
a break was so nearly made in the Eng
lish lines, detachment of Chinese de
molishing bridge were caught face tC
face with the onrushing Huns They were
without arms Instead of surrendering
they fought stubbornly with picks anC
shovels against the bayonets of their foes
Some of them picked up the rifles of deaC
me and fired tbem in the faces of th'
Germans. After number of Chinese has
been killed, the detachment was rescued
by the British.
After the number of Chinese in Franc,
grew considerably. arrangements wer'
J made for their welfare and recreation