The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-08-19

Tsingtao. With Hopei and Shansi,
Shantung forms the transportation
center of North China. In posses
sion of the peninsula Japan would
be in a position to control the Gulf
of Chilli and the Yellow sea.
Key to domination of China is its
railroad system. Who controls the
railroads can control the territory
they serve. 1t may be seen upon
the accompanying map how the
railroads of North China radiate
from the area about Peiping and
Tientsin. Once Japan is in COM
plete control of this area her inf1u-
ence could follow the rails to the
important city of Kalgan in Chahar,
and from there to Paotow in Sui
yuan; into the southwest over the
Peiping-Hankow railway to Shin
kiachiang and southern Hopei, and
to Taiyuan in Shansi; southwark
from Tientsin to Tsangchow and
across the Yellow river to Tsinan,
thence southwark again to Nam
king itself and eastward to the port
of Tsingtao. These railroads, in ad-
dition to one across Hopei from
Tsangchow to Shihkiachiang which
the japanese wish to build if they
can get the permission of China,
are of tremendous military impor-
lance.
From the latest dispatches it ap-
pears Japan is in control of the all
important line between Tientsin
and Peiping, although it is a pre-
carious sort of control, with the
Chinese twenty-ninth army con-
stantly threatening to attack. Ac-
tually, during the early days of the
present crisis, the Chinese did press
a drive along this railroad, cap
turing three key stations, only to
lose them again after a brief ten
ure.
Liukouchiao, the railroad juno
ton south of Peiping which controls
the Peiping-Hankow railroad route,
is also vital to Japanese hegem-
ony; it was the scene of one of the
early battles.
AS this is being written Gen.
Chang Kai-shek is faced with a de-
cision that China has had to make
again and again since the Japa-
nese awakened to the necessity for
expansion. Shall he declare open
warfare against Japan, or shall his
national government continue to
make feeble protests while the To-
cal troops of the North defend their
country-ineffectively, as they are
wont to do?
Japanese Better Equipped.
China is more united today than
it has been for many years in the
past; indeed the very bond of unity
has been the common feeling of
indignation over the encroachment
of the Land of the Rising Sun.
There are many demands for war
pouring into Marking from the prov
inces. But the feeling is generally
that the time has not yet come
for general and unified effort to
throw out the invaders.
Local Chinese forces in Hopei and
Chahar are not equal to the task
of repulsing the Japanese, even
though every last man is ready to
lay down his life. The twenty
ninth army is fairly well equipped,
but hordes of the provincial troops
have only long swords with which
to battle airplane bombers, artil-
lery, tanks and machine guns. The
japanese are ready to make war
with the finest modern parapher-
MALTA, and there are plenty of troops
ready for requirements. Chiang's
only hope, if he should declare war,
would be to dispatch the national
governments best troops to the
North China front and defeat the
Japanese with sheer power of num-
bers-for he could outnumber them
two to one, and better.
Probably he will decide to let the
Japanese have what they want, just
as they took what they wanted in
Manchuria and Jehol.
g Western Newspaper Union.