railway stations and
lies owing to the lack
ge stock and packing
- and will evidently go
there until the first
nich are bound to ruin

‘tate of the Japanese
ginomy is eloquently at-
Eby the gardens and
‘vhich have been strip-
héir fences, and by the
ap posts, which are to
ying here and there in
ats of Dairen. By way
sting, not. metal scrap
ie (all stocks .of that
fhausted long ago), but
f wticles generally, the
» authorities in Dair-
ved the iron fences
? ises and parks, the iron
= om staircases in house
sce buildings, the traf-
' and the iron posts at
|» rossings, metal sign-
f+ ete. After that they
' yan removing the ra-
= rom houses and offices
' with central heating.
's all done, as I was
: Dairen inhabitants,
B nine months ago. But
j stripped away all this
is he Japanese were un-
| find transportation for
was all carried to the
‘ere most of it lies to
. The local inhabitants,
: their homes deprived
-2] heating, could come
dire theix radiators and
-mped on the wharfside.
_ae of the dismantled

-osts are still lying
¥ he streets.
t

-ne evening, in a half-
r streetcar, I got talk-
y_ neighbor, an. elderly
railwayman. The track
bad state of disrepair
ear swayed violently.

expressed the opinion
track ought to be re-
Taking advantage of

--at when there was no
>, my neighbor remark-
much chance of new
ng laid! We are re-

the second track from
h Manchurian Railway.

- only the rails, but.even

vers. We used to build

_, now we are tearing
There is
or guns.

not enough

40 Years Under The

Ficel Of Japan Continued —

r . . 2 . -

The Soviet Union’s declaration of war against Japan and her drive into Manchuria

was not her first encounter with the Japanese. Back in 1935, Soviet cavalrymen such as
these gave the Nips a sound licking when they tried to invade Siberia.

My neighbor added a few
words about the hard times that
have come to the Chinese, and
then sidled away from me,. evi-
dently fearing eavesdroppers.

To all appearances, he was a

fairly high-placed railway of-
ficial, for his chest was lavish-
ly ornamented with decoration
braids, which are worn there in-
stead of ribbons.

The poor Chinese, especially
the peasants, are more out-
spoken in their complaints
about the Japanese invaders.
The overwhelming majority of
the Chinese live in poverty. The
coolies and workers engaged in
physical labor
ehronically undermourished.
One nothing on their

arduous are

sees

‘ plant,

NIE AND CAPTAIN , -
GUE ARE LOOKING 7

WHEN. WE FIND THIS OTHER

GINK, I'LL PROVE TO YOU THAT

PETERS 1S A SPYAND WAS

TRYING TO KILL ME!

ADVOCATE — PAGE 11

tables (except maize cakes,

‘onions and radishes.

I was told that in the rural
districts of the Kwantung pro-
vince it was impossible in the
summer to buy a head of cab-
bage or an onion. An acquaint-
ance of mine once asked a pea-
sant why he would not sell
vegetables. The latter pointed
to his small allotment and said.

“Look over there! Every
every bush is counted. -
Everything is registered. If I
pull a single onion it will go
hard with me.”

During harvest time, commis-
sions, each consisting of a reg-
ular staff of officials accom-
panied by a policeman, wander
through the peasants’ fields and
allotments and decide how
much produce is to be left to
the peasant to prevent his fam-

ily from dying of starvation.
Everything else he is obliged
to deliver to the government
storehouses, receiving in return
for his produce a miserably
small- sum~not- nearly ~~ enough
to compensate him for his la-
bor.

It is therefore not surprising
that agriculture in the Kwan-
tung province is in a deplorable
state. The peasants do their ut-
most to sabotage the orders of
the Japanese authorities and

their attempts to mulct the
countryside of all the produce
they can. In 1944 all Japanese
schoolchildren and housewives
were put to agricultural work
in order in some degree to en-
sure the supply of produce to
the town. This attempt to find
a substitute for the labor of the

WHEN THEY PASS THE

[een AT THAT INSTANT JOHNNIE

FIGURE IN THE SHADOWS.,
‘BYE, SUCKERS!
= — |

OUNNIE FACES HIS

a7 our searcn )
VER cap!

ES

Chinese peasant did not, of
course, result in any material
improvement to the Japanese
economy. The food situation is
critical. The towns are poorly
supplied. Bread is baked only
for Europeans — it does not
figure in the rations of the Jap-
anese and Chinese population.

All that the Chinese worker
receives on his ration card
is kaohang — a local millet,

of very low nutritional value—
and maize. The Japanese are
issued rice.

| the waiting room of one of
the stations on the South-
Manchurian .Railway, I entered
into conversation with a Chi-
nese student, who said to me:

“The Japanese rob us and at

the same time assure us that if
we go hungry and ragged it is

our own fault. They advise us to-

display more initiative and re-
source; they recommend that
we make shoes of grass or
‘invent’ clothing which will not
require the expenditure of cot-
ton fabric.” :
This student also told me that
the young Chinese who are edu-

cated in the Japanese control-

led schools in Dairen have an
excellent knowledge of Japan-
ese history and can enumerate
all the Japanese dynasties, but
that they know absolutely noth-
ing about China, neither her
past nor present. :

For decades the Japanese
military hammered into the
minds of the youth that the
Japanese were a superior and
“divine” race, and that all other
nations, including the Chinese,
were inferior human _ breeds.
These theories have always
governed the attitude of the
Japanese conquerors towards
the Chinese population. All the
talk and all’ the agitation in-
dulged in of late by the Japan-
ese press about the “unity of
the Asiatis races,’ about the
Chinese being “blood brothers”
of the Japanese, and so forth,
are only a blind.

During my last visit I could
not help noticing that the occu-
pation authorities in Dairen
were obviously depressed. Evi-
dently this is due to the disas-
trous turn the war situation is
taking for the Japanese. Not a
trace was left of the truculence
which the Japanese displayed
roughly until the middle of
1948, when the Soviet-German
front was still only a short @is-
tance from Moscow. At that
time the Dairen newspapers di-
lated on the Hitlerites’~ suc-
cesses and the cinema houses
showed films extolling fascist
Germany. The barometer of
Japanese feeling kept falling,
as. we know, with the changes

in the military and political
situation.
When the

Americans began
their regular bombing of Japan
proper, the occupation author-
ities in Dairen fell into deep de-
jection. The population of Dair-
en is very poorly and wrongly
informed of the real situation
at the front and of internatioal
affairs. Nevertheless, it is
aware of the “main trend of
events. Furthermore, Japanese
officials, more or less informed

‘about the state of affairs, are

latterly making no attempt to
conceal their alarm. One obser-
ves among them an_ obvious
dread of “what will happen”
after the defeat of Hitler Ger-
many. This dread is betrayed
not only by the Japanese, but
also by those Chinese who are
connected with them, or who
are in their service, such as of-
ficials, policemen and  gend-
armes. ...

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1945

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