Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1919-10-31
STUDENTS CALL
NATION STRIKE
Form Patriotic Society-Close
Shops and Banks to Gain
Patriotic Demands.
GOVERNMENT ALLOWS POINTS
Miss Harriet Smith, Y. w. c. A. Student
Secretary In China, Relates Amaz-
Ing story Of How 10000 Stu
dents Organized Themselves
BY eERNlcE oRlswoLp.

Miss Harriet Smith, for ten years q
student secretary Of the Young Won
ems Christian Association In Shanghai,
China, relates the amazing story OF
how 10000 Chinese students organized
themselves to Dust the militarists from
Government Offices In Peking and how
they succeeded In becoming the lead.
ers OF China.
Fearing that China was not to be
protected from the aggression of other
nations by the Peace Treaty, as she
had expected to be, some 10000 stu
dents, all Of them between the ages Of
twelve and twenty-one years and In
Guiding 5000 girls, organized them
selves into the Chinese Students Pa
triotlc Society Immediately after the
publication Of the first draft OF the
Peace Treaty to fight for Chinese
rights.
Their first move was to strike from
school or, rather, from lectures, as
they remained In their respective
schools and spent so many hours daily
In private study. They then organized
into bands FOR getting out propaganda
literature and for public speaking in
the country and small towns and In the
tea shops In poorer districts Of the
cities In order that they might reach
the vast numbers Of people who could
not read.
Immediately upon organizing. the
students published their demands, four
In number: UD that the mllltarists,
who as party were pro-Japanese and
practically controlled the Government
ut Picking, be put out of ONCE; (2) that
Shantung be returned to China; (3)
that the twenty-one demands made by
japan In 1915 be cancelled; az that
there be freedom Of speech and Of the
press. They also insisted that the
Chinese constitution be finished.
An immense amount OF literature
was put out, much of II in the new
phonetic script which Is being launch
ed In China, so that the uneducated
classes might learn what was happen
Ing. Students lectured everywhere on
the demands, stirring the people to pa
trlotism. When many of them were
arrested while parading In the streets
OF Picking they formed an Association
OF Imprisoned Students within the
prison and refused to be released, pick
citing the stockade themselves when
Government guards were taken away,
until the Government submitted u
proper apology for having imprisoned
them In the beginning
When II became evident that eco
monte pressure was all that would be
effective both the bankers and mer-
chans' guilds were called upon to back
the students. "In less than two
hours" Miss Smith said, "the shutters
were up ut every shop In that great
city OF Shanghai, where telephones are
few and communication difficult
Every shop, whether large or small
was closed. The laboring people, feel.
ing as patriotic as the bankers, mer.
chants and students. also joined the
general strike. For week everything
was closed-shops, money exchanges,
FISH markets, shipping everything
The students struggled to keep public
utilities running. The telephone serv.
lee was stopped for a short time, but
the students soon had II running again
They.held meetings day and night, try.