Squabbling

Last week the plenipotent delegates of the twelve Powers represented at the Chinese Customs Conference (TIME, Nov. 9, 16) had need of all their prestige to keep up the appearance of negotiating with a Chinese Government which actually governs China.

The Conference, of course, is dealing with the Tuan Chi-jui Government at Peking. But last week it became clear to even the dullest observer that President Tuan, so-called "Chief Executive of China," is a mere figurehead whose administration owes its very existence to the fact that internal squabbles are keeping the great Super-Tuchuns Feng, Chang and Wu, busy with their own private quarrels and intrigues.

Despatches reported early in the week that Feng and Chang were both moving large forces toward Peking, and that Feng who has thus far "supported" Tuan rather vaguely, had decided to overthrow him completely, and set up some other puppet in his place. Later cables showed these reports to have been fiction, and indicated that Feng and Chang, out of deference to the Powers, were abstaining from immediate warlike engagements in the vicinity of Peking.

But the impression remained that the Peking Government had suffered a bad setback in prestige. And at Tokyo, alarm over the situation was so great that the Japanese Cabinet was convened in extraordinary session to decide what steps should be taken in the event that Feng and Chang should commence to battle for Peking.

An official despatch from the U. S. Minister to China, John Van Antwerp McMurray, who with the famed Chicago lawyer, Silas H. Strawn, represents the U. S. at the Customs Conference, sketched the situation among the Tuchuns substantially as follows:

1) The intentions of Super-Tuchun Feng are exceedingly obscure.--i. e., Feng may continue in the role of "the Chinese Christian General who protects Peking"; or he may unite with his old ally Chang; or he may go over to his still older ally Wu, whom he "betrayed" last year.

2) The forces of Chang are apparently executing an encircling movement to the west and south of Peking, as a threat against Feng, and in an attempt to block him from bringing down additional troops into the Peking region from his base at Kalgan. If this action be considered as taking place on Chang's "front," his "rear" is being attacked by Wu.

3) The Wu forces have pushed the Chang rear guard up from the vicinity of Shanghai and across the Shantung-Kiangsu border. At the same time what might be called Chang's "left flank" has been engaging the Wu forces in the interior.

The terms "front," "rear" and "flank" are, of course, purely general. The forces engaged are spread over an immense area in large and small detachments. Wu is supposed to have 300,000 men, and Chang and Feng 150,000 each. It was persistently rumored that Feng's chief lieutenant, Yueh Weichun, had gone over to Wu, that he would soon be followed by Feng himself.

Additional reports contained interesting accounts of the steps being taken by Super-Tuchun Chang to put the equipment and training of his forces on something like an occidental footing.

It is alleged that "General" Frank Sutton, "British soldier of fortune and an expert on trench mortars," has been retained for some time past as a military consultant with dictatorial powers, by Chang. And cables picture him as not only reorganizing Chang's entire military machine, but as having devised "a new and easily manufactured form of trench mortar," which the minions of Chang are supposed to be turning out in large numbers.

In the past, the Tuchuns have often been thwarted in their war plans by an inability to obtain sufficient supplies of occidental arms and ammunition. Now it is asserted that "General" Sutton has "standardized the arsenals of Chang" so that "the rapid production of small arms and ammunition is becoming a reality in China."

General Feng, "Chinese Christian Soldier," was also widely discussed last week, in view of the widespread uncertainty as to whether he would continue in a "benevolent" attitude toward the Customs Conference. Feng, like many a western statesmen, has been alternately reviled for "treachery to his friends" and praised for "his devotion to the interests of the mass."

Although a year has passed since he was reported to have "betrayed" his then ally, Wu, to Chang (TIME, Nov. 3, 1924) and seized control of Peking, with the consent of Chang, his motives even in that apparent act of bad faith are still under dispute. Some observers have actually asserted that Wu, hard pressed by Chang, asked Feng to "betray" him, in order that he might "flee without disgrace" and recoup his forces, as he has recently managed to do (TIME, Nov. 2).

Aside from possible defects in his "political honesty," the personal character of Feng is usually considered exemplary in the extreme, considering the marked proclivity of most Chinese chieftains for dissolute living. He is a total abstainer, a nonsmoker, and a vigorous combatant of loose sexual living among his troops. In his attire, "he affects the simplest and most austere garb." And it has often been reported that "he labors manually with his soldiers for a time every day."

Among his foibles have been noted "a taste for ice cream, and a reluctance to employ the death penalty except in extreme cases." Said an observer: "Feng is a 'Christian,' yes; but of a special kind. Like Cromwell he teaches his men to pray well and shoot better."