Consequently,  on  June  4th  and  5th,  they  instituted  a  campaign
of  street  lecturing  by  which  they  attempted  to  tell  the  people
about  Shantung,  the  Student  Movement  and  the  actions  of  the
three  men  who  were  looked  on  as  the  chief  traitors.  Wholesale
arrests  followed  and  in  two  days  over  nine  hundred  students


GOVERNMENT  89

were  lodged  in  the  buildings  of  the  Government  Law  School
that  had  been  turned  into  a  temporary  jail.
In  connection  with  the  student  demonstrations  in  Shanghai
the  merchants  organized  a  general  strike,  and  business  in  the
city  came  to  a  complete  standstill.  The  strike  was  so  complete
that  even  the  beggars'  and  the  thieves'  gild  joined,  and  there
was  not  a  single  robbery  in  the  city  for  five  days.  With  the
strike  spreading  to  other  cities,  the  students  causing  trouble  all
over  the  country  and  the  sons  of  many  of  the  provincial  authori-
ties in  jail  in  Peking,  the  pressure  was  too  much  for  the  Govern-
ment and  it  had  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  students,  apologize
to  them  for  their  arrest,  permit  them  to  lecture  on  the  streets
and  finally  accept  the  resignations  of  the  three  men  who  were
looked  upon  as  the  chief  traitors.
