The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1921-01-14
STUDENTS CALL
NATION STRIKE
Form Patriotic SOciety-CIose
Shops and Banks to Gain
Patriotic Demands.
GOVERNMENT ALLOWS POINTS
Miss Harriet Smith; " w. c. A. Student
Secretary in China, Relates Amaz-
Ing Story o. How 10000 stut
dents Organised Themselves.
BY eERNIcE eRlswoLn

Miss Harriet Smith, for ten years a
student secretary Of the Young Wom-
ems Christian Association IN Shanghai,
Chiaa, relates the. amazing story of
how 10000 Chinese students organized
themselves to Gust the militaristS from
Government Offices In Picking 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, SEINE 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
tFiotic Society Immediately after the
publication of the first draft of hlle,
Peace Treaty to fight Ter Chinese
rights.
Their first move was to- strike from
school on, rather, from lectures, as
they remained In their respective.
schools ard 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: ID that the militarists.
who as a party were prO-Japanese ana
practically controlled the Government
at PekinG be putsout Of o6lce; (2a that
Shantung be returned 10 China; ~
that the twenty-eRe demands made BIZ
Japan In 1915 be*eannslled; Ia 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 it In the new
phonetic script which Is being launch
ed In China, so that the uneducated
classes might learn what was happen
ing. Students Iectured everywhere on
the demands. stirring the people to pa
tRiotisnl. When many OF them were
arrested while parading In the streets
OF PeEiag they formed an Association
Of Imprisoned Students within the
prisoH and refused to be released, pick
citing the stockade themselves when
Government guards we've taken away,
until the Government submitted q
proper apology for having imprisoned
them fn the beginning.
When 1t became evident that eco
nomic pressure was all that would be
effective both. the bankers and mer-
chants guilds were called upon to back
the students. an less than two
hours" Miss Smith said, 'the shutters
were up at every shop In that great
city Of Shanghai, where telephones are
few ard 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-
ice was stopped for a short time, but
the students soon had 1t running again.
They held meetings day and night, try.