The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-10-24
-ASia'S Cockpit-No. g.
.JAPAN'S HIRED
MANCHU BANDIT
BROKE CHINA
Manchurian Jesse James
; Was Double CroSSer from
Start to End.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP sIMMS
eeripps-Hovar Foreign Editor

800 e~ALNA AAOAAA
a hlghwayman's saddle to a seat on
Manchuria's tiger throne, and
thence to his murder in a sleeping
car would make as hectic a movie
plot as Hollywood could want.
Yet the story is the real story Of
Japan's advance in Asia. They
made Chang and he helped make
mem Then they unmade him, Just
as they are about to unmake his son
ano successor, the young marshall"
Chang Tsueh-liang.
Back in 1905, when Japan was
at war with Russia for dominance
over Korea and Manchuria, Chang
Iso-ln-the old marshal-was the
big-shot racketeer of north China.
His band numbered we'll into the
hundreds. They we're a hard-rid-
ing, notwithstanding, wild and
woolly lot.
Japan bought his services. His
job was to tear into the Russian
line Of communications which
stretched in a thin trickle from the
Baltic, through Siberia and Man
churia, to the warm waters of the
Pacific. And he made a corking
good job of it.
Made Him a General
So helpful was the little fighting
cock that when the war was over
Japan obtained a pardon for him
at Peiping and had him made a
Chinese general. AS such he still
could be very useful.
Upon the establishment of the
Chinese Republic in 1911, Chang
was appointed military governor of
Manchuria. He now had well over
100000 well trained troops and
Japan-which had annexed Korea
and was spreading out in Man
churia-had a powerful friend at
court.
For seventeen years this able.
haWk-eyed Manchu ruled as die
tator under the wing of japan. His
army and his power grew until at
the end he isued an edict declar-
ing Manchuria an autonomous
state.
Little by little, however, he soured
on the Japanese. They wanted too
much. They always were after more
concessions. They insisted upon
railway rights of way branching
out into this part of Manchuria
and that part and, he grumbled
that the japanese military always
followed concessions.
Crary Had - nj rKy:4H-
Chang grew stubborn. He be-
came harder to deal with, until at
last things came to an impaSse.
Then something happened. There
was a revolt and Chang found him
self hanging on by the skin of his
teeth. 1t was a case of making up
with his japanese friends or being
deposed.
Chang chose the former alterna-
tive and 500 a Gordon of Japanese
troops surrounded Mukden, his
capital, and forbade any fighting
there. Mukden was declared a
neutral zone"-in much the same
way that American marines set up
neutral zones in Nicaragua when
the rebels there were about to GUST
President Diaz-and so the old
marshal Vas saved.
But in 1928 he was to go n step
too far. There was a war between
the north and the south, or Nation
aliStS. He commanded the north
erners and General Chang Kali
Shek, now president of China, was
in command of the s%outherners.
And the Last Straw
Suddenly, just as the Nationalist
we're on the point of taking Peiping,
Chang's headquarters, a brigade Of
Japanese troops appeared across his
line of march. They had taken the
key city and railway junction of
Tsinanfu. 1t looked as though the
southern advance had been checked,
saving Peiping and Chang.
But was Chang grateful? He was
not.
Il suggest that we drop our war"
he wired his southern rival, and
combine against the Japanese"
This vas the straw that broke
the Nipponese camels back. From
that moment Chang was doomed.
The southerners detoured around
the japanese and entered the capt.
tai, refusing the old marshals Of
fer. and the latter sadly bearded his
special train for the north.
At dawn the next day, as his
private car rolled under the over
pass Of the Japanese railway from
Korea, just outside Mukden, there
was an explosion that rocked the
country for miles around. And the
old marshal was no more.
Son Even More Difficult
The origin of the explosion was
called a mystery, but inside circles
in both Mukden and Toxic said
Japanese army engineers, in an ex-
cess of zeal. had mined the rail-
way track under the bridge.
With great promptneSs the
young Marshal" then in his
twenties, succeeded the old. But
he lacked the Old Marshals ability.
Frail. in bad health, inexperienced,
he looked easy, but he really has
given the japanese far more trou-
BILE than his father.
His first act was to raise the Ma
tionaliSt flag of China owe his pal
ace. He has obstructed the Japa-
nese railway program and other
concessions persistently.
So now. Toxic has decreed, the
young Marshal" too, must go. A
movement for Manchurian indie
pendence is on the make again,
and, China charges, unless some
thing happens to prevent it, the
country will become another Korea.
Next-The Dream Of Sun Vat