Evening star., 1941-11-14
Burma Road Compares With Great Wall of China
(Second OF a Series.)
BY LELAND STOWE,
Snecial Cnrre snnndenf of The Star

nOANIHAANNl, AOOutll SllAllu Noy Slp-
per- AT Mangshi the Burmese
and Indian chauffeurs turn over their
trucks to Chinese drivers. Here on
the second day of our trip we en-
countered a demonstration of why
it's such a terrific task to push
traffic over the Burma road up to
its potential maximum.
If American aid to China is to
become really effective this winter
three times as much leaSe-lend war
materials must leave Mangshi-and
actually be delivered in Running
as the combined total tonnage of
Chinese government and purely
commercial cargoes previously to
reach Running
To triple the strictly governmental
and war material traffic over the
whole length of China's lifeline
should be possible, according to the
American transportation experts on
the Arnstein-D Davis -Hellman Com
mittee Nevertheless, it's a colossal
job in view of habits, practices and
abuses which have become estab-
lished over three years of the Burma
roads operation.
Variety Of Handicaps.
Moreover, with the best will in
t1e world, many things can only be
accomplished slowly in this primi-
tive South China area. First-class
mechanics, chauffeurs and technica
operators can't be produced from
raw material overnight. Under such
a wide variety of handicaps the Won
der is that as much governmental
cargo has traversed the road in the
past, even though it could have been
much larger if serious reforms had
been ruthlessly applied months ago.
Last May, when John Earl Baker
was appointed American manager
of the Burma road. most observers
said traffic could at least be doubled
within a year-providing Mr. BakeS
were given such authority as to be
"czar" of the highway. In practice
MI. Baker never obtained anything
like that amount of authority, so
conditions could be improved but
slightly.
Today Gen. Yu Fei-pen has been
delegated by Marshal Chang Kai-
shek to put the Arnstein Com
mittees recommendation into effect,
this order having been given in
late August Whether Gen. Yu
exercises a "czar's" authority in
recognizing the road or finds bis
efforts vitiated on important issues
by internal and provincial politics,
remains to be seen before spring.
But Chinese leaders seem to have
an increased realization of the
urgency for reform, and certainly
Marshal Chang is heartily dedi-
Gated TO il.
Mangshi revealed some OF the
normal handicaps to US Early that
morning the drivers from Burma
turned over the fine, new % Ameri-
can station wagons TO representa-
tives Of the Chinese air force. as
scheduled. Here each station
wagon must take on at least one
500-pound drum of gasoline in ad-
dition TO its Load of six big tires.
Some of the new squad of Chinese
drivers also needed practice runs
because they had never handled
Ford V-8s before. Then the cars
had to be refueled, have their Oil
checked and radiators filled.
Worst Malaria Center.
Even without the loading to be
done this might take six hours for
a caravan of % machines. With
out any night crews to load the
drums and reshuffle the tires inside
the buses, it looked like q two-day
delay in Mangshi incidentally, the
worst malaria center on the road
But having been held up a week
back at Lashio by floods. we simply
had to make Running in five days
If humanly possible. A most con-
siderate Chinese Air Force colonel
kept us in the running by ordering
our three cars to be reloaded right
away. The big heavy drums were
tough things for three or four small
/ Chinese soldiers to boost into the
/ trucks. Then ensued a great debate
! ABOUT Where the drums should best
be placed to keep them from rolling.
The two rear seats of the wagons
had to be taken out and packed at
various angles several times In
short, three hours were gone before
the three machines were ready-yet
that was wonderful compared to
about 48 hours for the others.
At noon we were of on our first
3,800-foot climb. We snaked up
around endless curves and soon the
yellow road fell twisting behind and
below us in the long valley, while
the humpbacked Yunnan ranges
loomed upon the lofty ranges ahead
of us. AS we wriggled upward. coolies
in patched, blue cotton outfits and