Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-07
SHALL GIANT CHINA BECOME
ISHMAEL AMONG NATIONS?
Let the Great Powers So Act to Save China and the
World From the Deadly Menace of This
Disaster.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.
THEODORE w. MOVES.

THEODORE w. MOVES.
Ill.
In the clash of war lords, big ant
little, and their armies, it is of inter
est to learn what we can of the rea
strength of the contending forces
When, in addition, one gets speak
ing acquaintance with the names not
only of the great. but of the minor
war lords, provincial governors, attili
ated with Chang or Feng or WI, one
can understand better the war dis
patches, often otherwise unintelliGible
in an October 1925 number of the
North China Herald discusses this sub
ject interestingly. He divides Chinese
soldiers into three classes, fighting
coolie and paper soldiers The first
are disciplined armed mercenaries
loyal to their immediate commander
who pays them, and to no one else
The Coolie soldiers are unarmed car
in an Oriental army. Paper soldiers
are those who never eXisted but are
reported to exist by local comma nders
to swell the amount allowed them by
the comma nder-in-chief to feed, clothe
and equip their forces. The Herald
writer considers only fighting men
and in so doing he estimates that he
cuts down one-half the nominal
Sf h;
which he figures. He reports in
Chang Tso-lins army 100000 fighting
men. on the whole we'll armed and
equipped. poorly paid. and in spots of
dubious loyalty. This slur upon the
loyalty of Changes army has been
justified by the wholesale assertions
which Chang has recently suffered
This writer estimates the forces op
posed to Chang. emitting the personal
army of FenG Yu-hsiang. at $50, 900
with 10000 not we'll armed. He re-
ports that the anti-Chang forces are
not as we'll equipped as those of Chang
and that in finance they are about
equal. neither side having much
money.
Anti-Chang Forces.
The anti-Chang forces are dis.
tributed among the central and
YanGtse provinces as follows: In
Honan. Yao Wei-chun has 140. 900
men, not more than so per cent well
armed. II was d section of this army
which. early in the fighting, in loose
and uncertain cooperation with Feng.
attacked Changes forces of dubious
sun Chuanfang has a fine fighting
force of 10000 men, with which he
recently chased Chang Tso-lin's forces
out of Central China and occupied
jen have 10000 In kiangsu. In
Anhui there are 10000 men; in
Hupeh, 10000, and at Tsinanfu, 80
900. WI Peifu. who is put at the
tail of the list, is credited with only
10000 men. Thirty thousand are
claimed in his personal following.
The newspaper writer has no
authoritative figures concerning the
strength of the army Of FenG Iu-
hsian, who has thrown a cloak OF
secrecy over his forces. He reports
that Feng's followers say that he can
throw into war $4,000 soldiers, we'll
equipped and adequately financed.
Other supporters claimed for him a
very much larger army. next in size
to that of Chang Tso-lin, and events
seem to sustain their estimates. Henry
Feng with $4,000 men and with a re-
serve of 10000 Mongolians. organized,
equipped and trained by the Russians.
The fighting soldiers, thus reported
in Chang's army and the central
China forces opposed to him, far
exceed half Il million, and repre-
sent a nominal Chinese army, count
ing coolie soldiers, of over million.
This enormous total does not in
clude the Cantonese Red and anti
Red forces. or the soldiers in Human,
Szechuan, Yunnan, kueichow and the
extreme northwest.
Cantonese Reds and Anti-Reds.
The Cantonese factions are neglected
in the calculations because they have
been viewed as holding each other in
deadlock, so far as participation in the
fighting in Central and North China
is concerned. Sun Vat Sens South
China government, at Canton, is now
completely under bolshevik Russian
control. but the white section of the
Cantonese is said to outnumber
largely the red, though the latter
have the disciplined army and
control of the military resources. The
Reds are credited with an army OF
IS 900 men. The Cantonese white sec
ton is viewed as sympathetic to WI
Pei-fu.