’ r ARSHAL | Feng. Yu-hsiang’s voice droned softly. in the. next room.. —NEW YORK winding up a session with his English instructor, and when :he -came : throu one the wide doors of. the living room to greet me he showed me: first of all gS Letters of FDR. The first few pages were etched with marginal’ ngeationg in Chinese characters—new vocabulary, The Marshal's great burly frame shook with a deep chuc- kle- when I told. him such .a practice was frowned on by American foreign. language in- structors. The book, he told me through his interpreter, Alexander Lie, is “very interesting,” and FDR —‘“things might be different for the Chinese people if he were still with us.” We settled ourselves in his comfortable living room — the Marshall, well over six feet, giv- ing the impression of towering strength even as he sat relaxed in the biggest chair in the room, He had a great deal to say about his people in China, and his voice, actually bass but al- ways gentle, sometimes reached a startling high pitch as he spoke of their suffering at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, thanks to American intervention, Known as the “Christian Gen- eral,” because he was the first general in the Chinese Army to be baptized—in 1913 —- Marshal Feng has been in the United States on a mission for the Wat- er Conservation Commission since September, 1946. He is second in command in the Chi- nese Army—only Chiang Kai- shek precedes him—and his forceful representation of the Chinese problem during the last few months has been yery start- ling to many who have always thought he was closely tied to Chiang and the Kuomintang. “I couldn’t help speaking up and asking the American peo- ple not to help Chiang Kai-shek kill my little brothers and sis- . ters,” he said, when we asked him about his decision to take a stand against the civil war policy. “T couldn't help it last May when I read how the police killed and imprisoned students and beat the young co-eds with spiked clubs. So since then I -have determined resolutely to speak up for my people.” edhe! ll Ca Siac cat fe Sei Aut RIPEXOUNUE 4 sie, tr fi nn Mm ns i. I > a PLN Aa il af lisesosle Friday, iahuar’ 16, 1948 @ A Frenchman looks at the U. Ss. By Jean Wetzler @ Russia reforms its currency By Prof. Z. Atlas @ The goal is in sight... By Bruce PSE i T turned out that such an apparently sudden. decision was the peak point on an accumu- lation of experience—a. natural development. For Marshall Feng was the pioneer in morale-build- ing in the Chinese Army, in- stituting many of the principles of discipline which are now the special attributes contributing so much to the success of the Com- munist Army. Thus the officers under his command lived with the enlist- ed men in the same quarters, ate the same food with them, and the men, in Marsha] Feng’s words, came to consider them “older brothers.” The Marshal always worked elosely with the troops under. him, training them in “real fighting,” not just in drill and parade. But probably the most extreme departure from the old ‘notions of warfare in China was Mar- shal Feng’s insistence that his troops establish and maintain friendly working relations with the people along their routes. The peasants and villagers had learned to expect pillaging and destruction and persecution, and, sometimes worse, but Marshal Feng put an end to that pre- eedent. “What the troops needed, they borrowed and returned.” Thus Marshal Feng’s troops were troops with high morale, and in 1925-27, as part of the Expeditionary Force fighting the war lords in the North, they were victorious, in spite of very poor equipment. : Some things about those days of the Chinese Revolution Mar- shal Feng cannot recall without laughter. “Then,” he said, “Chiang Kai- “He. was hifi dee sis OLIVE. + SUTTON. shek and I were Osi called Communists. He was the. Com- munist of the South, and I was _the Communist, of the North.” . ei 2 ® YG pe SBS 4 TE everybody who opposes him a Communist. today -.doesn’t strike . the Marshal. as_ being very funny. “Under Chiang . Kai-shek, a he picked his words |. slowly, fully, “the people just cannot live. . pressure is called a Communist. The officers in Chiang’s Army “has way Chiang . calls. care> . Anyone who opposes. his - want peace. They don’t want to fight their brothers.” If only America would stop sending Chiang money and mu- nitions! That was his main con- cern. America should support the democratic elements and make way for establishment of real peace -and democracy in China. Then loans could be used for the benefit of the Chinese peo- ple. But this way the people are being taught by Chiang to hate Americans. Chiang manages it this way, he said: “When the Kuomintang troops attack a city they bomb it with American - planes for three days’ and. three nights. Then. they: bombard it with American ‘can- non and shells for three more days and nights. Then the in- fantry goes forward, and they ask: ists?’ And they are told: ‘They evacuated two weeks ago.’ ES “And the troops ask: ‘Then whom have we. been fighting?’ and they are told: “ ‘You have been fighting ‘opr people. Here is. my brother’s corpse. Here is my mother’s corpse. Here is my daughter's corpse.’ “But then the political ad visers follow the infantry and they tell the people who are left: ‘It is not the Kuomintang who attacked you. It is not Chi- ang Kai-shek who is responsible. It is America. See—these are American planes and cannon and shells!’ ”. THERE are very grave dang. ers smouldering in the situa- tion. in China, Marshal _Feng warns. It is his opinion that “Chiang Kai-shek wants to to benefit from’ such a war be- tween two great countriés. He © many Propagandists | here to _ express | hate ‘for the ‘sent Soviet Union.’ “But Chiang,” he emphasized. ‘is like & man in the last stagés of tuberculosis, like a man who © must smoke * ‘opium every day. Even one of the TJieutenarits in his air ‘force tried to shoot’ him ~ the other day. Some people want to keep. him to use in’ their Jems for a war against “the Soviet Union. But even that ‘is ” very foolish,” Marshal Feng spoke with a warm confidence about the éer- tainty of the final outcome for his people. se: ‘If America would do as I have stated, Chinese democracy j and peace “would be assured sooner, But if not, we will réa- lize our own democracy | and = peace eventually. Indonesia Blockaded —LONDON. gees an emergency food shortage grips most of the world, Indonesia, an island group with more than 70 million in- habitants and with vast food- producing resources, remains iso- lated and impoverished by a shipping blockade. Indonesia, according to her spokesmen here, couki supply Sugar, coffee, tea, spices, fats, rubber, quinine and a host of other needed products to the rest of the world. It would also be an almost limitless market for the machinery, textiles and other products that many coun- tries are prepared to export. The island group has been isolated from the rest of the world for six years—first under Japanese occupation and, since the end of the war, by the Dutch who are seeking to reassert their prewar colonial control Over the area. For 2% years, . fae: Indonesian People have been fighting a)- most barehanded against the well-armed and trained Dutch military machine. As part of this war, the Dutch ‘have es- tablistied ‘an absolute shipping blockade in an effort to starve out the independence movement - by preventing the movement of from one island to another and by stifHing production. While the Dutch officially claim they feel the Indonesian people still need direction and are not “prepared” for self-gov- ernment, several Dutch spokes- men have been frankly cynical about the aims. When a com- mission appointed by the Unit- ed Nations—which has unsuces- fully ordered the Dutch to stop their war—questioned a recent “police action” ostensibly taken to “restore law and order,” a Dutch spokesman explained it by saying: “We aimed at the occupation of the pris cmt important areas.” : The fact is that prewar In- donesia'— where workers were paid: starvation wages and unions were illegal.— was one of ‘the richest sources of Mbes ‘for Dutch big business. : ‘Where are the Commun-. involve the . Unitea’ States in ‘the civil’ war ~ and eventually’ in a war against the Soviet Union. Chiang” hopes :