The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-02-13
CHINA, TORN BY
CIVIL WARS, NO
MATCH FOR FOE
DiSmemberment Continues
as Rival Lords Battle
One Another.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIAfMS
seripps- Howard Foreign Editor

seripps-Howard Foreign Editor
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13-China,
once the dominant power of Asia
and with quarter of the land sur
face Of the globe under her sway,
now is being dismembered.
Alden once paid tribute to her.
Northern India acknowledged her
over-lordship. Ceylon, Burmah,
Malacca, Siam, Cambodia, Cochin
China, Formosa, Korea, Eastern ST.
IBERIA and more still, were hers.
Today all these are gone and the
end is not yet. Manchuria, Mon
golia and Thibet virtually are lost,
and the partition of what is left
is admittedly possibility.
Tiny Britain, little France,
dwarfed Spain, pigmy Portugal,
clumsy Russia and Tom Thumb
Japan all took what territory
they wanted, and some of them are
now back after more.
And China, for all of her 450,-
100000 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of
all the people on earth-and her
100000 soldiers, unaided can not
nead tnem OH.
Japan, with one-seventh of the
man-power, and one-tenth the men
under arms, will lick her.
Chinas Armies Divided
The answer, if it had to be ex-
, pressed in paragraph, would be
this:
= Though China invented gunpow-
der, she used it to make frecrack-
ers for festive occasions, while her
hijacking neighbors developed the
invention and put it to work behind
bullets and bombs.
China has an army, but she is not
armed. Her navy is laugh. She
has no fighting ships, no airplaneS
to speak Of, no heavy artillery,
hardly any modern machine guns
and virtually no ammunition.
The Shanghai battle is explained
by the presence OF the best fight
ing forces China can command he
roicly defending their positions
against a laundering japanese
landing party caught totally UNI
prepared for anything remotely
resembling real battle. The
Japanese we're expecting the Chi
nese to run, as they did in Man
churia.
Though there are approximately
100000 men under arms in China,
they are divided into dozen armies.
Each army" belongs to some par
ticular provincial governor, or re-
gional war lord, not to the central
government.
Arms Are Obsolete
Their equipment is mostly stuff
which other countries have junked.
1 have seen, in the hands of Chi
nese soldiers, French lebels Of the
vintage of 1870; Krag- Jorgensens,
1890; Springfelds, 1898; Lee-En-
fields, 1900, and so on. Many would
not shoot straight because of worm
out rifling.
I have seen airplanes, long de-
model tied up with hay-wire and
flown by trusting Chinese students
or foreign Adventures. 1 have seen
sections Of water-p piping used as
trench-mortars.
This Chinese are not war-like,
their unending civil wars to the
contrary Notwithstanding.
China today is like the United
States would be if grating, UNI
scrupulous political bosses in differ
ent sections of our country each
had an army of his own and sought
to gain the upper hand over the
other bosses by defeating them at
war.
Chinese Peaceful at Heart
China never is without its count
less unemployed. Tens of millions
are always on the verge of Starva-
ton. Flood, famine and pestilence
are her everlasting lot. The war
lards could muster 25000,000, as
easily as 100000, if they wanted
that many and could feed and
clothe them. Chinese are not
soldiers because they like to fight
but because they must eat.
Even the war lords are not
fighters at heart. A battle often is
called off so the leaders can get to-
gether aid bargain. Arbitration,
plus a little cash, have stopped far
more civil wars in China than
blood.
But most significant of all, some
of the great powers never cease to
egg China's self-centered war lords
on. Directly or indirectly, they
furnish both sides with money and
weapons-of kind. 1t is q case
of divide and rule-until China
falls apart-or is torn apart-the
pieces to be divided among the