Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-09
NEW MARINE FORCE
ORDERED TO CHINA
1900 to Sail by April 20.
One of Fastest Liners
Requisitioned by U. S.
By the Associated Press.

The detachment of United States
Marines requested by Admiral Will
liams, commander of American naval
forces in Chinese waters, to be held
in readiness for a possible emergency,
has been ordered across the Pacific.
While official comment on this deci.
sion of the Washington Government
was not forthcoming, the move is be-
lieved to be a preca utionary one, as 1t
was said at the White House that
President Coolidge had not been ad-
vised of any important alteration in
the Chinese situation.
The detachment, constituting the
third regiment of 800 men, Is now
to sail shortly after arrival there. The
transport Henderson with a similar
force OF Marines sailed from that port
two days ago.
VIII Use Merchant Ships.
Inability of either the Army or
Navy to provide quick transportation
for the third detachment in the event
of a hurried call from Admiral VIII
liams Is thought to have prompted the
decision to send the force by CONNER
cial ships into ASiatic waters at once.
Its exact destination is not yet known.
strengthen the Shanghai defense, while
others might be dispatched to the
North toward the Picking area.
With it's arrival overseas. Admiral
Williams will have a landing force of
nearly 1000 men at his command.
Upward of 1000 Marines already are
at Shanghai under command of Brig.
Gen. Smedley Butler, $500 more are
aboard the Henderson, and about half
of the Bluejackets aboard the war.
craft could be landed in an emer-
gency.
Menace Believed Growing.
While official reports have told of
no new disquieting developments
they have reti/3ted a growing men
ace of anti.foreign agitation at Han
kow, present center of Cantonese ac-
tivities in the Yangtze River Valley.
Rear Admiral Hough, American naval
commander at that city, reported that
the Nationalist authorities apparent
ly were making no effort to "check
the increasing lawlessness," and that
he was using all possible pressure to
induce Americans to leave HankoW
and proceed to Shanghai.
Press dispatches also stated that
Gen. Chang Kai-Shek, the Cantonese
commander, had departed from Shang-
hal to Marking, scene of the recent
outrageS against Americans and other
foreigners, and this was taken as an
indication that he proposed to pre-
pare for further military operations
against Northern forces in the
Yangtze Valley.
While 1t is believed that practically
all Americans have been evacuated
from points within this zone, the
Yangtze River is the artery of COM
munication between Hankow, about
200 miles above Marking, and Shang-
hal, and the opening of hostilities in
this region might increase the danger
of ships carrying refugees to the
coast.
Chang KaiShek Watched.
Washington officials also continued
to manifest interest in reports indi-
eating a widening of the rift between
the Cantonese commander, who rep
resents the moderate wing OF the Ma
tionalist party, and the more radical
element.
Chang consistently has stood for a
moderate policy toward all, and a
split between the general and the
other faction in his party might ma
terially affect the situation.
Close attention also was being
given to reports that Chang had
taken steps to suppress publication
in Shanghai newspapers of propa-
ganda matter furnished by the Han
kow political bureau. This reported
anti radical move by the Cantonese
general comedies with the drive at
Picking and Tientsin by Chang Tso-
lin, Manchurian dictator of the North
China military alliance. against
Soviet Russian agencies suspected of
completely in spreading pro- Nation
alist propaganda, but whether this
foreshadowed some degree of rap
prochement between the two leaders
in opposition to the radical elements
and Soviet influence was an unan-
swered question in Washington.