The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-06-23
CHINA TO BLAME
HERSELF, CHICAGO
LAWYER DECLARES
Should Improve National
Health by Thorough
House Cleaning.
BY Randall Gould


: PEKING Cby mail)-China must
abandon the notion that her trou-
ples are due to outside forces. and
improve the national health by a
thorough house cleaning.
Unequal treaties,p foreign i'm
perialism, "coercian by the powers"
these and similar catchwords~are
largely meaningless in searching for
the basic causes of China's condition
today.
Only by the overcoming of the
rampant militarism which rules the
country relentlessly at present can
China achieve hef salvation.
Summarized, the foregoing ex
presses the findings of Silas II.
Strawn. American representative on
both the Chinese customs confer
ence and the extraterritoriality in
quiry, after he spent more than half
a year of intensive first-hand study
of things Chinese,
Thrilling Experiences
Strawn arrived here spectacularly
last October on the, fast train which
ram between Shanghai and Picking
! for some time-a train which, after
being turned, back to Shanghai once,
got in twenty-four hours later. After
that time he went through about
every. extraordinary experience
China has to offer, including civil
war. airplane bomb raids and two
lengthy severances of communica-
lions between Peking and the out
side world. The uniqueness of
Strawn lies in the fact that he took
it all with a smile and jest, while
at the same time watching every
thing with great keenness in pro-
verbal Yankee fashion
1t would not be wholly aniss to
paraphrase Synge's famous title and
dub Strawn "the playboy from the
western world" He enlivened ev
, cry gathering he has attended
through his numerous good anec-
dotes, his unfailing humor, and his
refusal to be humbugged-a refusa1'
which he indicated plainly by speak
ing out in meeting whenever
smooth and meaningless statement
was advanced
Mortified Colleagues
Strawn Mortified his diplomatic
colleagues more than once. But
sthey liked it, The other diplomats
were grateful to him for saying
things they'd like to say for them
selves, but dare>not.
Curiously enough, the Chinese
likewise enjoyed this outspoken
Chicago lawyer, who has a habit of
getting up and puncturing their
rosy pictures Of things as they ought
to be, but aren't. While they felt
a certain artistic regret at seeing
holes in their pictures, they likewise
felt a certain artistic pleasure at the
dexterity with, which the javelins
were thrown. Any man with a sense
of humor can get along with 1.-The
Chinese. And Strawn has a sense
of humor plus.
When I dropped into Strawn's Of.
fee he was sending a cablegram to
his home town of Ottawa, Ill. He
had heard the Y M. c. A. was con-
Quoting a drive for funds and he
wanted his contribution to arrive on
time. Strawn had not forgotten his
home country or his home folk for a
moment. But he learned a lot about
China.
Up to China
"Disregarding the camouf1age, it is
plain to see that China's troubles
come right back to China herself,
he said. 1--WE who are here for the
customs conference and the inquiry
into administration of law in China,
will do all we can to help, and
think we can do something.
But while the militarist, the pol
itician and the demagogue continue
IN the ascendancy in China, efforts
of outsiders must necessarily be
greatly handicapped. To say that
the present treaties are responsible
is foolishness; Chinese and foreign
well-wishers alike are working
against impossible conditions at
present. Railways are being ruined
and both foreign and Chinese capital
are being discouraged from invest
ment in China-China, which should
through it's wonderful resources be
one of the richest fields for invest
ment on EARTH