The Nome nugget., 1948-11-17
DISASTER IN CHINA
(By Barnet NOVer)

 mas E. Dewey emphasized the need of greater Ameri- aid to China to strenghen the capacity of that srifetorn and inflaon-plagued nation to survive He indicated that, if elected he would urge such aid program on Congress.
 In view of what has happened in China during the past month, it is very much of an open question whether anything the next Congress do in the way of appropratng funds for Chinese relief and military aid could arrive in time be a sufficiently large scale to arrest the rapid decay in the prestige and authority of the Nankng government
 During this past month major disaster after an- other has befallen Nationalist China.
 Its armies have been routed in Manchuria The whole of that reon which large all of France and Germany combined is in Chinese Reds hands.
 In the of the fighting huge government force was beaten simply evaporated through mutiny de- SerfiOn or surrender
 Furthermore the Reds have added large stretch of eastern Inner Mongolia and sizable area in North China. including key points in Shantung to their hold ngS They have also captured vast quantities of teriel, much of it former U. $. army surplus.
 It would be easy to blame Chiang Kai-Shek and the men surrounding him alone responsible for the ter rible debacle that is now in progress
 Certainly good deal of the responsibility for what has happened must be placed their shoulders, but by all of it. To small extent the present Chi nese tragedy is product of the and the mistakes made by the United States during and immediately af ter the in its dealings with Soviet Russia.
 The China story during these last three years moht today be enormously different Russia had been invited indeed begged pended knee, to join in the war on Japan which as it turned out, we won without her assistance.
 The hope that in satisfying Russian demands with respect Dairen Port Arthur, Sakhan and the Kur- i1es Russia would live to the commitment made in the Sino-Sovet treaty of August, 1945 and be good neighbOr to China.
 The Russian pledge to that effect clear and pre- else It proved not to be worth the paper written From the very beginning, Russia did all in her power to weaken the Nankng government and strength en the hands of the Chinese Communists In the first place Russia delayed her evacuation of Manchura as long as possible.
 Secondly, before carrying out that evacuation the Russians stripped Manchuria of every movable instaa- tion and deliberately destroyed installations that could not be moved The purpose clearly to prevent China from inherng in operating form the industrial plant which the Japanese had built up in Manchuria during their long years of occupation and control of that region
 In the third place, the Russian evacuation was car red out as to permit the Chinese Communists to move in first and to into possession of large part of Menchura and also vast quantities of Japanese arms.
 Lacking Manchurias agricultural, mineral and indus trial resources plagued by the aftermath of decades of civil and international war, the Nankng government found difficult cope with imitation and other problems that confronted it after Japans surrender