NURSERIES OF A NATION

One hundred and fifty years ago the several halls of Harvard College were almost denuded of students who went out to fight for the independence of their country in the American Revolution. Today, in a manner no less striking though superficially less apparent, graduates of Harvard and its sister colleges and universities of America are leading the fight of their fellow countrymen for the independence of China.

The Canton government is sewn through from top to bottom with able young men who received their preparation in the United States. Only three years ago the Canton government like its sickly rival at Pekin was in financial confusion. Today, in spite of almost insuperable difficulties in the way, the budget balances, the armies are well paid, large sums are spent in effective propaganda. A Harvard man did that.

The armies that are sweeping upon Shanghai are noticeably well trained in effective warfare. They repeatedly defeat forces of greater numerical strength. the chief instructor of those armies is a graduate of M. I. T. With the advancing forces rides a vigorous woman in a sedan chair. Her mere presence electrifies tiring and hungry soldiers into instant activity. She is Chung Ling Soong, widow of Sun Yat Sen, who has become a God to half of China. She is a graduate of Wesleyan College, Georgia, one of the first colleges for girls in the South. When Pelin falls and a unified China restored to youth faces the world, the colleges of America may well lay claim to that honored title, nurseries of a nation.