1926-04-15 — Page 8

MILITARY LEECHES.

SCOURGE OF CIVIL WAR IN TSANGCHOW.

HONEYED WORDS AND FOUL DEEDS.

[FROM THE "PEKING & TIENTSIN TIMES."']

TANGCHOW, March 29th.

For long weary months the people of this district have suffered"" the slings aad arrows of outrageous fortune" by the merciless exactions of a succession of military commanders, who have for vary- ¦ ing periods settled down upon them, withị the fixed determination of acquiring. rapid wealth. The modern militarist has no scruples whatever. He goes straight for his prey with a ferocity that knows) no limits and his thirst for blood or hard cash is simply inantíable. The peo- ple have no redress. Their's not to reason why" but to pay up and continue paying, for, if there is any demur or besitation, a word from the great man is sufficient to let loose a storm of loot. ing, which would strip their shops and homes and leave them destitute. In any case this is always a possibility. With oas notable exception, the troops of every leading militarist in China to-day regard looting as a legitimate pastime, a com- pensation for uncertainty of pay and the risks of their calling.

Troops on their way to the front are bad enough, but in defeat they become devils incarnate, and the whisper of "1ți ping (routed soldiers) in the neigh

bourhood throws the whole population into a desperate panic. The story of the rout of Li Ching Lin's army and their fight through Yenshan to the Shantung border has already been told in these columas. Happily Tsanghsien was not 'seriously involved in that desolating ex- perience but its turn was to come sad, since the New Year, the people in this neighbourhood have been bled white..

THE HONGKONG DAILY - PRESS, THURSDAY, APRIL 15TH, 1926

their grievances. I am constantly fill ed with anxious concern for Chili, my native province, and am fixed in my determination to pacify the country and to protect the people..

In accordance with my original in- tention, I have returned north with

U.S. AIR MAIL.

FROM WASHINGTON TO NEVADA. LETTERS FROM ASIA,

The Washington, Oregon, Idaho United States Air Mail Service started opera- tions on April 6th. The new air mail line from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada, connects with the Transcontinental Air Mail line at Elko, and, effects a 50 hour saving of time between the Pacific North west and New York.

"

3.

"ENGAGEMENT-RING LAW.

JILTED WOMAN TO KEEP IT. MARRIAGE PROMISE A CONTRACT.

The Jaw relating to engagement rings. was expounded recently by Mr. Justice McCardie, who is a bachelor, in the King's Bench Division. Whether the breaking of the promise to marry in- volved the return of the betrothal gifts had been argued by Miss C. M. Young, + woman barrister, for Miss Cissio Cohen, of Allerton-street, East-read, Ny and Mr. S. Lincoln, for Mr. Nathan Seliar, of High-street, Shadwell, E. against whom £74 103. damages for

Letters and packages sent from the Orient to the eastern part of the United my noble soldiers. At the head of my States, riä Seattle or Vancouver, and by united force of stour Aghters, I have ait, mail from either point, arrive in New sworn to make a clean, sweep of the York 30 hours sooner than by fast mail rabble of "Red" robbers, and the whole country, when it hears, will re-train; in Chicago 36 hours soonery and breach of promise of marriage had been äwärded. Mr. Justice McCardio said sound with applause at our resolve to in Salt Lake City 24 hours sooner. push on together to Tientsin and Twenty-five cents an ounce is the post-that the contention by Mr. Lincoln was Peking People of all classes in the dis age required for air mail from Seattle, to tricts through which my troops pass any place in the New York zone 20 cents that as the ring was given solely in may possess their hearts in peace and to the Chicago zone; and 10 cents to the contemplation of marriage, it was an in- have no fear. The discipline in my Salt Lake zone. The post office departs plied condition that, if the marriage, command is rigorous in the extreme meat urges that all mail intended to be through whatsoever chase, did not take and. in all commercial transactions, carried by airplane be plainly marked in place, the ring should be handed back the men are thoroughly bonest and just the space immediately below the stars All my officers and men have for long and above the address," við nir been inspired with the highest senti ments and those who disober military regulations, will not be lightly par

doned.

LI CHING, LIN.”

Sir new type Curtiss motor Swallow mail planes, specially designed by the Swallow Airplane Manufacturing Con pany of Wichita, Kansas, are used in the new air mail service. Four pilots and four mechanics form the crew.

to Mr. Seller.

Miss Young, for Miss Cohen, had sub- mitted that there could be no implied condition which would allow a person to take advantage of his or her own de fault.

NO DIRECT DECISION.

This proclamation'is addressed to the business community and the people at large. See that you all act in accord."Personnel for the new company consistu

It was curious that after the centuries. Bace with these principles!

of: Walter E. Varney, owner and opera in which so many engagements to marry tor: Charles T. Wrightson, office man had been made in hepe but dissolved in ager; Frank P. Bell, trafic manager:illusions the question now before him had Leon Cuddeback, chief pilot: Franklin not been long ago determined by direct Rose, Joe Taff. George Buck, pilots: Chris decision. de Velschow, chief mechanic, and three assistant mechanics. The four pilots re- seived their training at the Varney Flying School at San Mateo, California and have enviable flying records

"SOUND AND FURY." The behaviour of General Li's troops on their first night in the city here em- phasized the utter cynicism of these high sounding phrases, but worse was to come when his noble soldiers were hurled back with heavy losses by the 1st Kuo minchun at Tangkuantun and, with the assistance of huge reinforcements, rash ed up from Tsinanfu by Chang Tsung Chang, only just managed to hold their opponents to the north of Tsangchow. The city was never taken by Lu Chung Lin's small but very efficiens force but the 1st Kuoninchan inflicted serious fuses on Li and Chang's men by their and, more than once, the defenders were impetuous attacks and superior strategy on the verge of a general retirement.

Varney's contract calls for 80 per cent. of the air mail postage as compensation with the privilege of carrying goods and passengers in addition to the mails if he desires.

The law of contract had only been inlly developed within comparatively recent times, and actions for breach of premise had been clothed with the more obvious features of commercial disputes.

Mr. Justice McCardis quoted recent decisions and said that his view was that if a woman who had received a ring refused to fulfil the condition of the gift

she must return it. So, on the other the first of several air mail lines to open legal justification, refused to carry out The Washington, Oregon, Idaho line is band, if a man had, without a recognised up. A network of air hines will soon his promise of marriage he could not spread all over the United States and demand the return of the engagement

Chiengo to St. Louis, Chicago to Dallas to Los Angeles, Seattle to Los Angeles, will include routes from San Francisco ring..

and Fort Worth, New York to Boston, Chicago to St. Pani. Cheyenne to Pueble, Chicago to New Orleans and Chicago to Birmingham.

CONTRACT LAW,

If an

If the marriage did not take place, either through the death of or through a disability recognised by law on the part of the person giving the ring or other to be implied that the gift should be conditional gift, then the condition was returned.

By the slow growth of decisions the Last week in company with a colleague,

promise of marriage was today fixed ... TATTERDEMALION TUFEL I visited a battlefield, six miles to the

with many of the legal characteristics north of the city, where for over a fort-

of a commercial bärgnia. It was govèrn- With the advent of the 3rd Kuomin-ight the rival forces had been hammer. The transcontinental nir mail service, ed Iargely by the principles of law ap chup at the close of 1023-a tatterde ing at each other. My main object, how which has been giving daily service for plicable to ordinary contracts. malion crowd of obvious bandits, de-ever, was to inspect the villages recently the past two years, has proved the de. engagement ring be regarded as a pledge

occupied by the mands for foodstaffs and money came the firing line and to confirm or other Business and banking houses making use tract, a person who wrongly refused to Allies" behind and inpendability of air mail transportation, or deposit for the fulfilment of a con- pouring in upon the city authorities and, wise stories of refugees д to the of this method of mail transportation hare carry out the bargain would lose his in less than six weeks, not hur albort of iniquitious conduct of the troops. There found it invaluable. An average of 200 deposit. 200,000 dollars was extracted from the had been no exaggeration, and the des pounds of mail a day is carried over the the engagement were dissolved by picably cruelty of their handiwork made transcontinental air mail between Sun mutual consent, then the engagement pockets of the merchants and farmers. one's blood boil. We first looked at Francisco and New York. More than ring and like gifts must, he thought, be Over and above this sun paid out by the K'anghalenchuang a little hamlet of some 6,000,000 pounds of mail have been trans- returned by cach party. official executive committee in Tsangchow &fteen families. Every draught animal ported over 10,000,000 miles since the city to the military authorities, there had been stolen and the last thing onbeginning of air incil service. were incessant, unauthorised but open four legs-a calf had been taken that exactions by bands, of armed soldiers all morning by two roving soldiers, despite over the district in house-to-house visita the protests of its owner. We were taken Church, so there was not the slightest tions, Animals were taken from their into some seven or eight houses and the excuse for the ferocity of their per owners and impudent demands for money little R. C. Chapel. In every building & sccutors A schoolroom in the house of served on all, who looked respectable scene of utter desolution met our in- the headman had been devastated and all engagement ring would become the abso If the marriago took place then the enough, to possess some apare cash. The dignant gaze. Brick kanga had heen rip the books torn to threds, while in the late property of the recipient, and that situation was getting intolerable, when ped up and every box smashed or prized private living rooms, the furniture had Li Ching Lin came along on February open with bayonets in the greedy search een smashed and ruined beyond repair property would not, he presumed, be 20th with his much advertised expedition for dollars or valuables. It seemed as One old fellow showed me a wound en bis divested by subsequent divorce. to regain his lost authority as Chibli though every room had been visited by a face, the result of a vicious kick from ring (containing a single diamond and Mr. Justice McCardie handed over the Tapan.

tornado of tremendous violence and in a soldier, whose lordly commands had worth £30) in its case to Miss Young in The 3rd Kuominchun left hurriedly and reritable confusion.

the courtyards everything was in inde- not been obeyed with sufficient alacrity order that she might give it to Misa

Spare clothes and I heard u question by a Chinese com- several boxes of bullion fell inte the quilts, in fact, all articles that were panion in subdued tones on the subject hands of the victors. These were part of portalife or of the slightest value bad of the treatment of their women-folk:

1 Cohen. cumshaw to the troops sent down been carried off. Pigs and chickens had The answer was very significant. by Sun Yuch at Chinese New Year. The all been devoured, with all available is one of the things no one likes to talk dollars never got further than the officers stores of food, except what could be load- about." The silence was more eloquent who divided the spoil. By an extra turned on the villagers' carts. of the screw, the citizens had been com- the devilish work of destruction, in most and one felt that here was perhaps the. There is really a good deal of legal

To complete, than the stories of their own sufferings pelled to produce a special New Year's cases the family cooking pot had been deepest tragedy of the whole sordid busi. danger attached to the irresponsible offering to their brave defenders, as smashed and any grain left over thrown ness.

#

"no funds had come from Tientsin" ad" things might become very serious. were the men not.suitably rewarded for their services"!

anywhere, to be trampled under foot.

CATHOLIC CHAPEL DESECRATED...

DEEDS THAT CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN.

That

DANGEROUS CHATTER.

BY INNER TEMPLE.]

chatter which circulates round ten and other tables where men and women gather together.

The danger, of course, is an action for

The R. C. premises, from a mistaken idea of Feng Yu Hatang's religious, pro- Two other villages, occupied by Lalander. If you write anything de clivities had been the special object of Ching Lin's troops, were visited and with famatory of a person you are liable to one officer's apite. He had stabled his slight variations, similar horrible ex-un action for libel. If you merely speak horses in the chapel, crdered his men to cesses were reported. Not one family it he can bring an action for slander. smash all framed pictures on the wall bad escaped the universal spoilation. Now, as a rule, a person slandered and overturned the altar to serve as an Bitterness and despair were written on cannot bring an action unless he can inprovised manger. All religious books, most faces and this self-styled deliverer show that he has suffered some damage whether of Protestant or R. C. origin, of the people, with his inhuman troops, which can be actually translated into are reviled with terrible curses for deeds rounds, shillings, and peace. The law

are exceptiona to that rule.

for the sufferings of the people and that were ruthlessly torn up and scattered that will never be forgotten. I have will not bother about trifles. But there

TRIBUTES TO FIRST KUOMINCHUN.

to prove that the words spoken were true. Otherwise the damages may be heavy.

The second exception refers to the re- putation of professional- and business You must not attack their ability

A SHOWER OF PROCLAMATIONS. Li Chicg Lin celebrated his arrival in Teangchow with a shower of proclama tions, which were duly posted at every street corner for the edification, warning sad consolation of the public. The gist of most of them was that his heart bled he had come to deliver them from their oppressors and inaugurate a new era of In one house we discovered on a Kang written particularly of what I have seen peace and prosperity. Moreover, in view huddled up in a dilapidated quilt in a few villages near the old firing line,

Any word which reflects on the char of the distress, caused by the common miserable mah nursing & gaping woand but from other villages to the north, acter or reputation of a girl or woman eDemy and, out of consideration for their in the arm. He was the village idiot," south, east and west, where these soldiers renders the speaker liable to an action depleted resources, he had gathered a half-witted farm-hand, who on sus have been quartered, have come testi- for damages for slander, and it is un- supply of provisions for three months in picion of being a Kuominchun spy (!) monies of the same kind to the brutalities necessary for the plaintiff to show that Shantung, which would be ample for the had been shot at pointblank range by a inflicted on the innocent country folk she has suffered any damage. The law needs of his army, to enable them to

noble soldier." The arm had been It will take years for many of them to me it. Once publication of the bring the campaign, to a successful con- shattered above the elbow and was in a recover from the staggering blows of this words has been established, the defendant clusion, without making requisitions on ghastly condition. We hurried him away terrible winter, and some will never resis in grave peril. He or she will have the people here and elsewhere en route at once to the Mission Hospital, where pair their shattered fortunes. for Tientsin. The following translation the doctors are now trying to save the! of one of General Li's gems of composi. limb from amputation. The units of Li's tion may be of interest. In view of his army, who were responsible for such con

I cannot close this gloomy story of a record in Chibli and subsequent events, temptible-barbarity, were for the most it is particularly convincing, but perhaps part written up in chalk upon the door to the humanity of the 1st Kuominchun or honour unless you are ready to prove

people'a agony without paying a tribute it is well to say these things are never posts of the houses and could therefore soldiers ou this front. We crossed no what you say. It is so easy when you taken seriously by the Chinese, who know be fairly easily. traced, had the comman-man's land and visited three villages, have lost a case in court to cry out to their leaders far better than misguided ders.any sense of justice or share, foreignera.

which had been held by Feng's men, year friends that your lawyer was in- The next village, Yu Chuang Tzu, half Without exception the remarks, heard on competent, negligent of your heat in "Whereas my Army, has taken the a mile further on, was in a similar state every hand, were highly flattering to the terests, and utterly stupid. field with the object of punishing the of desolation and the people seemed ap-discipline and consistently unselfish char- the man you are slandering gets news But you must curb your tongue. · If guilty and consoling the people. "I palled and -dazed by their losses. We cter of his army. From villages along hereby notify my intention of exter made a thorough inspection of one block the 60 li front and away to the north of your secusation he can bring his minating "the Reds and utterly of houses, the property of the headman, in adjoining haien, all classes of the peo-action against you, and for him sa for destroying all their robber hordes, In a literary graduate of the old school ple are united in their praises of the the woman the law will assume he has to men's hearts Some time ago 1trict, No refinement of cruelty was of the other side. There may be some putation. It will be for you to a word, my aim is to restore confidence and a gentleman of repute in the dis 1st Kuominchun and in their detestation been damaged in his most precious pos

sension his professional or business re- voluntarily retired (sic) from Paoting spared in the treatment of this scholar justification for the calfimns of abuse, substantiate your hasty words Daily fu and Peking in the hope of putting and the numerous members of the family, that have been steadily directed for some st at end to this internecine strife and in

year at the so-called Christian the interests of peace. Who could

DUNA RUIN AND WOE

General by the foreign and native Press imagine that the ("Red")" brigands Pitiful tales of ruin and we were in China, but his detractors have to would have cruelly initiated a general poured out by all and sundry, as they reckon with the extraordinary pheno campaign of plunder and rape in spoke of the horrors of a fortnight'e menon that a leader, who falls 50, far Chibli Sun Yuch unlawfully seized occupation. The men were treated as short of their own ideals of what a Tientsin and the neighbourhood with slaves and made to obey the slightest wish Christian should be, can yet imbue the the result that the population suffered of their "guest" Kicks, curses and whole of his command with standards of tom terrible degree. The policy of ap insults were served out impartially from discipline and conduct, that are redeem- propriating wives and properly for morning to night. None of these folk ing the reputation of a soldier in China public use was put into operation and were connected in any way with a foreign from the lowest depths of contempt and the people were unable to ventilats. ·(Continued on next Column.> ignominy

T

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