Evening star., 1925-04-12
BY ELIZABETH HEMPsToNE.
HANKow, China, March IS.

BY ELIZABETH HEMPsToNE.
HANKOW, China, March IS.
THE history of the Republic of
China is contained in the biog-
raphy of her great men: or.
perhaps it would be safer to
say, in the biography of the
men who for their. little time have
held the high posts. Their greatness
may be questioned, but their power
has been unquestionable.
AT the present moment the country
is controlled by men, each striving to
maintain semblance of order in his
own section of the republic. who
have been long in the public eye
and who are well advanced in years
in the Kaleidoscope events of the past
Few months NO new lights appear. 1t
Is the same old color scheme converted
by twist of fate into a different pic
ture. When the next turn will come
no one knows.
Tuan Chi-jui is the present head Of
the present government. And due
praise should be given to the man
who, when chosen, had served his coun-
try long and ably, and asked nothing
more than peaceful seclusion for the
few remaining years of his life. 1t was
probably this very aloofness, this
freedom from taint of intrigue and
personal ambition, which proclaimed
him the one man upon whom all fac
tions could rely. He was deluged by
kilograms from all over the country
promising him support if he would
take up the reins of government The
old patriot hesitated: then, with a re-
luctant sigh, left his quiet Tientsin
garden for the dust-filled, plot-filIed
air of Peking; to undertake the most
stupendous work of the present age
the unification and rehabilitation of
China
Faithful support Doubted.
If Tuan were given the whole
hearted support that he was promised,
his task, though cast in heroic size,
would be simple of line. But there
are several other military leaders who
have ambitions of their own, and who
support Tuan for the moment because
it pleases them TO do so. But he is
merely a temporary compromise, and
at any moment one of those popular
military stunts known as a coup detat
may be staged, and we shall then be
treated once more TO large, black
headlines in the daily papers.
Tuan has been more or less in the
public eye since 1906 He was born
in the same province as Gen. Feng,
which gives them a tie in common; he
was a director of the military school
which graduated WI P'ei-fu, which
explains the latter's addressing him
as dear teacher" and his consent
(however reluctant and Involuntary
to laying aside for awhile his schem-
ing and intriguing; he is friendly to-
ward the notorious Little Hsu," who
was at one time his private secretary;
but above all and beyond everything
he is the puppet of Chang Tso-lin.
This last fact shows the reason of his
consideration for Lu Yung-hsiang and
Sun Yat-sen, allies of Chang Tso-lin
in the we'll known September cam
paign for Shanghai Thus we see
how it was that all the leaders were
willing to support" Tuan; and the
lesser lights, appofntees of WI Pei
fu, hurriedly fell into line, alleging
that their one idea in life was to end
the fighting they had so enthusiastic
calIy begun, and hoping by their
speedy acquiescence to be able to re-
tain their posts, OF, at worst, save
their skins.
TreachePy of Gen. Feng.
Gen. Feng, the Christian general, is
the man nominally responsible for
Tuan being head of the government;
although he is said to be receiving his
financial backing from Chang Tso-lin.
and it is alleged that Feng himself
was bought by Mukden gold. Feng,
supposedly under WI P'ei-fu was
ordered to the front with his troops
to oppose Chang Tso-lin's advance on
Peking from Manchuria at the same time
that WI left Peking on what was planned
to be a triumphal journey-the train
being specially made up for the pur-
pose, with cars reserved for news
paper men. 1t might have proved
such, in spite of the fact that Chang
had been fairly successful up to that
moment, had not WI been dealt
staggering blow from behind. Feng,
instead of joining him for battle,
quietly turned back to Peking; oc-
cupied the city; forced Tsao Kun to
resign as President; cut off all COM
munication and became all-powerful
for his little moment. He realized,
however, that he was not strong
enough to maintain what he had won.
So he virtually handed all the fruits
of his treachery to Chang Tso-lin by
asking his man, Tuan Chi-jui, to as
sumo control of the government. Tsao
Kun was kept a prisoner in Picking;
Wu fed with what troops he had left
on what ships he had left.
FenE and His designations.
AS soon as Tuan accepted the call
to power, Feng sent in his resigna-
ton and asked permission to travel
abroad. He was feeling the danger
Of the bitter hatred of those whom
he had betrayed, and the distrust of
those whom he had profited. Then,
too, his resignation was calculated to
impress every one with his sincerity
and absence of Interior motive. But
no one took him seriously, nor credit
ed him with personal disinterested-
ness Once before, in June, 1928, at
the height of his power and influence,
he had sent in an "untimely resigna-
tion," which was considered to have
brought about the flight of Pre- sident
Iii to Tientsin, and the coup detat
of that year.
So Feng's designations were refus-
ed three or four times, and he with
drew to the western hills near Pekins
TO see what would happen next. There
have been rumors that he was dis
satisfied with the way things were being
handled, and was plotting another
coup d'etat, with Karahkan, the Soviet