The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-06-08
BY EMILY {. DAVIS
Science Service STAFF Writer

LAlAA4 - JAWS
Science Service STAFF Writer
NEW YORK, June s.-If China
loses Manchuria as breath space
for some Of her tightly packed mil
lions Of people, she can not hope
10 turn 10 Mongolia. farther inland,
and find there an outlet Just as
good.
Mongolia has its possibilities. It
IS valuable and disable territory, as
China Japan and Russia all recog-
nize. But a thumos-doWn verdict
on Mongolia as a promised land Tor
Chinese pioneers Is rendered by
two geographers who have made
special study Of that particular
situation
Their observations are reported
IN a new publication Of the Amer
lean Geographical Society, dealing
with pioneer settlement through
out the world.
Where Nlanchuria has absorbed
millions Of Chinese pioneers, per-
haps as many as 100000 Mon
COLA has taken IN only tens Of
thousands.
Grassland Is Allurfng
It is true that Mongolia lays out
a welcome doormat to Chinese Of
the crowded northern plain. This
Welcome is an alluring stretch Of
fertile grassland north Of the great
wall Of China.
A good many Chinese have spread
over into this part Of Mongolia
Where they have settled. there are
well-cultivated fields Of barley, oats,
fax. millet But Mongolias vel
coming grasslands extend no more
than a hundred miles north OF the
great wall. Beyond that begins the
COBB desert. which is so large and
80 discouraging a part OF Mongolia.
There are other patches Of arabic
land in other sections OF Mongolia.
Irrigation has made some addition
a farm land. and forced the wilder
ness to yield apricots, nectarines
and other fruits.
A large irrigation project to uti-
lie water from the Hwang Ho river
Is now nearing completion. George
B. Greasy reports. This will reclaim
$4,000 acres Of heretofore arid land.
The main canal, dug by hand, is
forty miles long. With a depend
able supply Of water. that particu-
lar district should prosper and no
longer fear famine in drought
years.
Serious Problem Faced
But the future may not work out
50 favorably. In such situations in
Mongolia, CreSsy explains, the prob
lem is to keep the people from
pouring in to tax the productivity
OF the land to its utmost.
Chinese pioneers in Mongolia are
young people, in the western area
at least, writes owen baltimore in
the same book on Pioneer settle
ment." Hard times in China force
younger sons to trek north in bands.
They take over land from nomad
Mongols
On this land the young pioneers
build mud huts and break ground
for planting After the first har-
vest. they 60 back to fetch their
women and children The typical
village elder in such a community
Is a man not past his thirties.
Social conditions among these
pioneers are looked upon as bar
barious by Chinese stay-at homes.
who have not ventured north be-
yond their great wall, baltimore
finds
Social ties. especially in the first
years OF settlement, are loose" he
writes. Men fail or become dis
eouraged and abscond, and their
wives go to other men. Young men
drift away for a season Of caravan
work. and their wives lean, as the
expression goes. on other men.
Percentage OF children often is
doubtful, and filial piety is not COM
parable as q social force 70 flial
piety in China proper"
Does Not Better Self
Everything considered. baltimore
concludes that the Chinaman,
pushed out of his country by pres
sure OF population and grinding
poverty. does not win his way into
a better world by eHiigrating to
Mongolia as a pioneer"
For the first few years, the
pioneer may have more food to
eat But he has brought traditions
and customs of China out to the
new edge Of civilization. And that
means that in a few generations
the community is Just as poor and
crowded and hungry as 1t would
have been back home.
The reasons. traced by baltimore,
are two. First, the old story Of ex-
ceSsive regard for family, leading
to early marriage of sons to provide
gTandsonS. A family will contract
debts from which there is no hope
Of recovery. merely to hasten
marriage. The second handicap is
lack Of a stable financing system.
There is no such thing as a safe
Chinese paper currency or a safe
Chinese bank" writes baltimore.
Banks may be ruined and their
paper currency rendered valueless
by a political upheaval or a civil
war"
Until Chinese customs and stand
ards change, pioneers in Mongolia
have little chance to escape from
fhesa lfnndicar y II ararnarr