The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-05-14

SOVIET SEEKS TO PLACATE BRITISH
CHINA'S BANDIT LIFE
Barred BY PRIESTS

BY NEA Service.
New York, May 14.-China has
practically no professional bandits, in
the sense understood in western
countries.
The occupation is one which ordi-
narily peaceful, lawabiding farmers
take to, without considering they're
doing anything out of the way. when
ever crop failure makes it impos-
sihle for them to live, for season,
off the land.
Food Impelling Factor.
Throughout very large districts
the country produces, under normal
conditions, only just enough to
scantily support the population. If
there's an extra large crop, there
may be small surplus.
If there's a partial failure, cor
responding number of people must
starve, unless they overflow into
other districts and forcibly take
whatever they need.
A regular army of bandits could
be Stamped out. But it doesn't work
that way. One year banditry will be
rife if some partlcul section of the
country. The next year there won't
be any of it at all there, but it will
be rampant somewhere else.
Some civil troubles began, this
condition has been aggravated by
the presence of large bodies of SOL
! diers, scattered over the whole coun-
try. An army will be recruited say
in Yunnan province and sent to
Hupeh, far to the northward.
Troops Unable to Cope.
The necessity for its presence in
Hupeh having passed, it's simply
dsbanded on the spot and not the
slightest thought is ever given by
! those who organized it to the prob
lem of getting any of the soldiers
home.
Naturally they stay in Hupeh
where they can live only by violence
since the province already has as
large population as it can support
Or, if they go home, they can do sc
only by living on the country they
: travelled through.
Policing China, to suppress out
lawry of this sort, means having
forces sufficient to cope with armeo
bands often numbering thousands
almost anywhere at almost any time
This, too, is in country lacking
means for the rapid transpOrtatio,
of troops with a population aroant
40O,OOO,000 and an area nearly th'
size of the continental United States
BY NEA Service.
Hoboken, N. j., May 14.-Poverty-
looming like gaunt specter-is tn
direct cause lying behind Chimes
banditry.
That sums up eyewitness stories
of hand-to-hand contact with ma
rauders of the type that few day
ago swept down upon train i
Shantung and carried off many Amer
leans and other foreigners.
Word-pictures of contact wit
freebooters are contained in dis
patches by two missionaries now il
.China-Rev. Raphael Vance and Rev
Timot thy McDermott, PASSIONS
priests-to the editor of The Sigl
monthly magazine of the order.
These two men have penetrated tn
fastness of the Shantung district
and by long experience intimately un
derstand the psychology and motivat
ing forces lying behind the rovin
bands of pillagers.
: Terrorize POpulace.
"The ordinary people fear thes
men," Father Raphael writes, IAN
make little or no resistance. Whe
the war was over it was commonl
believed that soldiers, disbandet
would take to their guns and tn
bandit business simultaneously.
"Twice last week bandits came dow
from the mountains and stormed tn
l eastern gate of the city, burning an
destroying property. They came with
out warning. 1t is a daily occurrenc
for several of these bandits to be bt
headed along the river near the mi
j. sion.
Looked Upon as Gods.
"They go to their death like mai
tyrs and are very often reputed 8
q gods by the people and always
\ their fellow robbers. They have al
-. solutely no fear of death. In or
:, wear over a thousand were summa.
:. ily executed here in Yuan Chow; b,
their numbers are increasing alarm
h ingly.~
q "Now we are expecting anoth'
\. more serious attack, because a fe
i: days ago their commander-in-chi
!: was captured through treacher
: and executed. Some of these chic
F.. tains have thousands of men und'
: command in regular military fas
!: ion. Very often when the leade
= make peace with the governmen
!, their men are all made regular sc
l. diers.
r, "They long since have passed Il
v asking stage. They beg no ain
+. now. What they want they take
} by force if necessary.
l. NEARLY all are still in unifor1
l. Through the southern provinc
& they march in military fashion, pi
Laying, burning, kidnapping and mu
dering as they move along.
Respect Old Glory.
l. The term soldiers and robbers h
Y has come to be synonymous to maj
in China. Only few months ba
8, several thousands of these robbie
il besieged Yuan Chow for more tn
/. woekl Thew had the town cut