FORMOSA: Act of Magnanimity

Despite Peking’s attempts to minimize the disaster, China’s worst floods in a century have drowned hundreds, made tens of thousands homeless, and turned an area the size of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi into a quagmire of disaster where millions soon might starve (TIME, Aug. 16).

Watching from his island stronghold of Formosa, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek appealed in the name of humanity to “all Chinese,” whatever their political persuasion, and to all “foreign friends” for flood and famine relief to save the mainland from disaster. He did more: he sent some of his own transport aircraft to drop 60 tons of rice over the worst-hit mainland provinces. The generalissimo did all this despite the cluck-clucking of the U.S. State Department that such assistance ought not to be rendered to enemy regimes. In so doing, Chiang, a practicing Christian, showed more magnanimity, good sense and imagination than the U.S. State Department.