Around the May Fourth period,the immediate problem of warlord politics was undoubtedly a burning issue that was a major obstacle to China’s progress.As contemporaries saw it,this problem manifested itself as follows.First,the warlords’ intervention in political affairs and their struggle for power broke down the principles of government and political morality;second,their takeover of particular regions broke down the relations between the central and local governments;third,their wars were "more destructive than banditry";and fourth,their troops preyed on the people,stopping them from earning a living and cutting them to the quick.These comments show that intellectuals of the time saw the warlords negatively.Contemporaries called them "good for nothing," a plain but representative expression.Even today,these observations,albeit somewhat exaggerated,are basically faithful to the facts.