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were word for word identical. Then when he went to see
Borodin, he was, much to his surprise, again given the same
answer. He could not understand until he had thought of it
for some time that all such answers were previously
determined upon by Borodin, and taught to them to repeat
like parrots in reply to anybody who might ask such questions
Sun and Wong are thus mere gramaphones of Borodin, and this
is indeed ridiculous.
At present all specie has been w ithdrawn with the
result that there has been an abrupt fall in the value of
notes and serious trouble among the soldiers demanding their
pay in the same manner as the workmen have done an increase
of their wages.
The Wuhan Government has not only been
unable to pay its troops but has failed as well to keep up
their supply of food. There are at Wuhan more than 250,000
workmen out of work, and a grave economic problem has arisen.
The problem can only be solved by economic measures, and
their proposal to deal with it by legislation is indeed
extraordinary and ridiculous.
Our foreign comrade noticed that Sun and Wong for
all their talk about "having it in hand" and "having a scheme" were in fact depressed and care worn: and Borodin
very much out of spirits, as if he were ill. Sun and Wong
when they said, "We have it in hand" and "We have a scheme" were really possessed by Borodin body and soul, thinking that so long as Borodin was among them, they had only to listen
with all their heart to his words and obey his commands to
find a scheme of action. But Borodin himself is in such a
plight that we cannot see how his talk and his orders can
erolve any plan or scheme of control. Perhaps he means to
create such anarchy in Wuhan that the whole population will
become desperate. He will then equip them with arms and
form them into an army, or a gang, of desperados which will
rush out sauve qui peut. Probably this is Borodin's
precious