Evening star., 1922-05-02

Though greatly dep1ored by the real
friends OF China IN this country, the
great struggle now going on WiShin
Egunshot of Peking, the. capital, may
have at least one important beneficial
result. "For the past ten years, or
since She overthrow Of the Manchu
dynasty China has been in state Of
political chaos; Several serious at
tempts have been made to organize
and maintain, the constitutional re-
public, but these have, been defeated
by the overlapping ambition of self
constituted, leaders,. The, attempt Of
the general and statesman, Yun Chi
Kai. to re-establish a monarchical
form of government was. however,
probably the only really dangerous
project which threatened the vitality
of the republican principle in China,
and on that occasion the mass of the
people in unmistakable terms sig
nified their determination to maintain
a democracy. -
But the original Chinese constitu-
tional convention. which ten years
ago framed the government which Is
still in existence, though frequently
threatened by militaristic elements:
legitimate authority, at least over
central and northern China and Man
churia. In the south radical elements
organized at Canton by DR.. Sun Yat
Sen, the first provisional president OF
China after the. overthrow of the
diplomat and publicist. DIR. WI Ting
fang. we'll known in Washington
from his long residence here as min
| ister from China. set up an independ-
ent Republic of South China. Origi-
nally, planned as a simple secession
inces, the movement has gained il
strength and force and broadened its
ambitions to a point where 1t aims to
control the whole of China.
az r y +
The southerners have made con-
siderable headway by peaceful pene-
tration with their doctrines in the
north. where they have been trying
to fnstil the idea that the frail gov
ernment now in existence in Peking
is secretly dominated by the Japanese
and that many of it's officials have
been corrupted. On the other hand,
the Peking officials insist that they
would have been able. to suppress the
rebellion in southern China long ago
had not the latter been armed and
eQuipped by the japanese. They make
the point that the present southern
leader, DIR. Sun Vat Sen. was given
asylum and material assistance by
the Japanese when he was fugi-
tive from his own country.
The. Picking. government, under the
presidency Of Hsu Shih Chang. is
rather strongly eRtrenched. senti-
mentally in the affections of many
Of the Chinese people, But it occupies
an ANOMALOUS position in seYeral re-
spects. 1t has been practically '1iv-
ing on air." as the Chinese put it, for
many months past. having suffered
the loss of the greater part Of the
financial tributes which the gov
ernors of the great provinces of China
are supposed to be obligated to pay
to the central government to main
tain it.. because Of the lack of. funds,
the central government is also COM
pleteiy bereft of any military force.
its former soldiers having deserted
to; provincial armies. because they
were not paid, and most of the Chi
nese natives having gone on strike
for the same reason. o..
at =.
So it happens that the central gov
eminent really exists only. at the: VIII
OF the great military '.tuchuns.' who
might close out its existence at a mo-
ment's notice il it served their. pur-