Evening star., 1939-12-24
By Marx J. Gayn.


cities and the channels of communica-
tion-navigable rivers, railways and
canals
The theory was that with the cities
the population-which must transport
its produce to the trading centers-would
soon be forced to its knees
Toxic, however. reckoned without the
guerrillas. What happened was mild
revolution in Chinese rural economy
Red organizers. patriots, students-all
those fighting Japan-went into the
countryside and issued dictum: PRO
duce only what you consume"
The effect was startling. 1t hurt the
japanese in their tenderest spot For
decades, Japanese empire builders have
been talking of converting China into a
gigantic farm. which would supply Nip
pons hungry mills with the raw ma
terials they need Yet the first result of
the invasion has been a drastic drop in
the flow of such materials to Japan.
Cotton Supply Vanishing.
North China, for instance, has always
been regarded as the future source of
all the raw cotton Japan consumes. But
as soon as the war had started, guerrilla
organizers in the vast area stretching
south of Peiping banned the planting
of cotton. This year, Japan's mills re-
ceived from North China but fraction
of cotton they had in 1896. Next year
there will be none.
But the guerrillas have done more than
that. They proceeded to train the popu-
lation in the use of arms and began to
set up little arsenals for the manufacture
of firearms. They reorganized rural gov
ernment for the sake of war time eff
cheney and launched campaign of anti
Japanese education.
Their most effective aids were the
Japanese themselves. Like the German
Junkers. the Japanese military believe
that force settles all problems From
the very first day of the war. therefore,
they have been seeking to bludgeon the
Chinese into the bliss of Sino-Japanese
political and economic "co-operation"
The indiscriminate Japanese bombing
of towns and villages, the wholesale mall
treatment of the population and the
utter disregard for civilian lives and
property had fertilized the ground for
the seeds of unity, nationalism and anti
Japanese sentiment sown by the guer-
rillas.
Within few months of the opening
shot of the war, it had become unsafe
&I,o Top IN
the strongly defended towns and rail-
ways. Occasional punitive expeditions
and daily bombing raids produced purely
negative results. The general staff in
Toxic suddenly realized that while its
armies had overrun half of China this
nominally occupied territory was still in
Chinese hands
Becomes A Stalemate.
There matters rest today. Despite the
painful blows suffered by China in Nam
king and despite the sharp drop In the
flow of foreign war supplies to China, the
Sino-Japanese war is still In q stalemate.
And victory-barring some totally unex-
pected upheaval.in China-must remain
out Of Japan's reach as long as she is
unable to conquer and rule the so-called
guerrilla empires" within the triangle.
Toxic has realized this many months
ago. 1t has tried propaganda on the OBJ
stinate farmers. But propaganda loses
its point when it is delivered to the ac-
compartment of exploding bombs. The
dispatch of large army to occupy and
hold the entire area within the triangle
has been ruled out. Japan's slender cof-
fers cannot afford the maintenance Of
such force.
Japan, therefore, has turned to still
another alternative-political puppetry.
The rehearsals were held in Manchuria