Evening star., 1941-12-05
Shift From China
Cuts Fabulous Pay
Of u. ). Marines
Leothernecks Lived in
Luxury Where 81
Wos Equal to Sl8
Ry FRANK l. WELLER.
Wide World News.

Wide World News.
The millionaires of the Marine
Corps" are back where they started
AS poor bows.
They are the go officers and men
whose pay dollar was worth Sl8 IN
Shanghai, Peiping and TientSln but
will amount to only 100 cents again
in Manila. President Roosevelt Or
dered them to the Philippines IN
Withdrawing the last remaining gar
risonS from China.
Tales of fabulous doings with
Chinese exchange abound in the
corpS-buck privateS turning their
$40 a month into fortunes. leisure.
fun and froliC where only the very
rich dared draw bllltold; marines
in financial or business enterprises
Of their own. eX-marineS married
and living in China on their saw
ings!
Fantastic? Well, in China 81
American ereenback was worth l8
Mexican dollars in local currency,
but the Mex dollar would buy as
much goods and services as the
American dollar Millionaires, for
sure, say the Leathernecks.
Leave After 81 Years.
It's all over now United States
marines have guarded American in
terests in China for 81 years. This
is the first time they ever have been
removed lock. stock and barrel. Too
dangerous to stay. said officials
the token force could be wiped out
in event OF war with Japan.
But the ''malignS," as ASiaticS
call them faced fearful odds for
nearly a century-during which they
crossed steel with fanatical Chinese
hordes and rammed battle banners
into the muzzles Of Korean cannon.
They had their toughest going in
the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and the
civil war of 1927.
There have been any number of
marine landing or boarding parties
in the Far East. These were chiefly
small excursions 10 quell riots. chase
bandits. save missionaries or pro-
tect property. For years China was
tl1P orr WllNIN a maj AAit AOhAN
have fun-plenty of fighting and
plenty Of money They were on and
off warships more times than deck
paint and always boiling out Of the
Philippines. only to go back again
when trouble stopped
PLAYED Spectacular Parts.
Between times small detachments
n their
nattv uniforms as diplomatic guards
or curling the hair of potential enc
mics bv driving nails with rife bull
lets at 300 yards.
In all their China excursions. the
leathernecks we're the first TO land.
the last to leave. They always
grabbed off the spectacular spots
that was their job. But behind them
came the United States sailors and
soldiers with the heavy stuff that
STAYED put
Marines first landed in China on
business in 1874. The East India
Squadron had been nosing around
coastal waters there since 1925 on
rumors that the Chinese didn't think
so much of Yankee traders. Final
". a Canton merchant was killed IN
q riot and Chinese mobs stormed
an American factory to avenge him.
Capt. Tilton took a small detach-
ment from the U. S. S. st. LOUIS
ashore on Whampoa Beach armed
with muskets and cutlaSses TO guard
the American compound until Caleb
Cushing, first United States Min
lister 10 China. adjusted difficulties
with local officials.
Commodore Matthew c. Perry
gave the Orient its most colorful and
historical. perhaps its most import
ant. acquaintance with American
marines. He steamed into Yedo
tTokiol Bav in 1883 under presi-
dental orders to negotiate treaty
With Japan. which for nearly 200
years had summed Western COM
mercp
100 Marines Do the Trick.
Natives. aWed by ships that
belched smoke and moved against
wind and tide. yelled out in fright
and 5000 warriors took battle stance
TO stave off the sea devils. Com
modore Perry trained his guns on
tine landing and sent Mai. Zeillin'S
100 gorgeous marines ashore TO drill
and strut
The stunt worked. Never were
Ieathernecks so garbed in white and
scarlet and gold and plumes and
tassleS. Perry's official party fol-
lowed with great pomp and splendor
The marines formed two cleaning
ranks of steel on either side of the
landing and escorted the commodore
70 representatives of the Mikado.
Soon after there was a revolution
in the islands and Japan went in
for modernization and Western civil
iza ton
Back in China. marines formed
the speaIhead in destruction Of the
four barrier forts blocking foreign
entrance to the Canton River. Chi
nese soldiers clashed first with a
landing party sent to protect Amer
iCan property. Fort after fort fell
during the years 1856 to 1859 to
forces consistently outnumbered SO
TO by natives. Imperial Commits