The need of a regenerative idea to strengthen or invigorate the Chinese Government occurred to others beside Stilwell. Faced with the passivity and deterioration of China and the loss of war potential which this meant to the Allies, such men were consumed with a desire to find some way to improve matters. Foreign loans could no longer help, reported Atcheson, but if the Central Government could retake Ichang and the hinterland leading to southern Hupeh and Hunan, the flow of cotton and produce would bring a reduction of 50 percent in the cost of food and clothing, as he had been told by the Minister of Economic Affairs, Wong Wen Hao, one of the finest and most respected of China's public officials.

There are many counsels of perfection. The frequent and fervent reception of the Sacraments is a counsel of perfection, and one of the principal of attaining perfection—Confession producing purity of soul, and Holy Communion a closer union between the soul and His Divine majesty.

a state that overimposes capital punishment

An astonishing proportion of village people had replaced their old houses with new ones built of better materials, often two stories high.