FOR CHINA

In 1934, China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek "observed a schoolboy behaving in an unbecoming manner in the street." Shortly thereafter the Generalissimo founded a New Life Movement to puritanize and clean up the Chinese, to fight superstition, ignorance and corruption, even to curb such Chinese habits as spitting in public. Chiang turned over the actual running of this movement, obviously Christian in its origin, to his Christian wife. Since then Mme Chiang has been advised, in the New Life Movement and in other matters, by a Congregational missionary, Rev. George W. Shepherd of Auburndale, Mass.

Next to William Henry Donald, onetime Australian newsman (TIME, Dec. 23, 1936), Missionary Shepherd is today the closest white collaborator of Mme Chiang Kaishek. Last week he was in the U. S. on a speaking tour. In a precise, controlled voice, Mr. Shepherd spoke part of his piece on the radio last week at a New York Advertising Club luncheon. Its gist: "Left to themselves, the Japanese will never subjugate China. With the assistance of America [i.e. with U. S. scrap iron, other war materials], I sometimes fear that Japan will temporarily win this war. I find it difficult to decide whether I am needed more in America than in China."

Although the U. S. is almost 100% in favor of China against Japan, contributions to China relief agencies are relatively as scarce as news of Chinese victories--today scarce indeed. U. S. sympathizers contributed more than $2,000,000 to Spain during its late war, but they have given much less to China; to the Church Committee for China Relief, only $268,709 since its founding last summer. John R. Mott, vice chairman of the Committee, declares that in China is "the greatest area and volume of relatively unrelieved human suffering of modern times"--30,000,000 people in need of the barest sustenance.

In China such sustenance is among the cheapest in the world: one U. S. dollar will keep a man alive for a month. The Church Committee now sends about $10,000 a week to China, to be disbursed by Protestants and Roman Catholics as well.

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