Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-11-24
Liverpool, Nov. 4, 1913.
China and the Chinese,

The population OF China iG 1912, was, ac.
cordlng to the French orientalst, Paulher, $751;
693,I77 Mr.. Everett, our late Commissioner
10 China, believed this 10 be more correct es-
innate than we have Of any people on the
globe except the United States. Between 17l2
and 1884, the population is believed to have
doubled, and TO have increased between 1894
and 1919 no less than 30,000,000. Mr.. Ever
Ell estimated the present population at $40 000,-
600. This is chiefly concentrated in China
proper in the ratio of 257 10 the square mile
being not more densely situated than the aver
age of populous countries in Europe. In some
provinces the population is very thinly settled.
In reference TO the Importance of so consid-
cradle portion OF the human family, and the
events which, however bameabe in themselves
are opening that nation 10 intercourse and COM
merce with the rest Of the world, we take the
following remarks from a late number Of the
London Times:
| "We should remember that we have 10 do
with people constituting one-third of the hu.
man race, with whom civilization and policy
were traditionary at time when our ancestors
were set of savageS, bedaubed with wood, and
wandering up and down the forests oflhs island
IN search Of their prey. Agriculture and me.
chanlcal ingenuity have in China received nc
lnconsiderable development. Many Of the
discoveries on which Europe most Justly prides
herself were made concurrentIy, or at an ante.
rlor period amongst the people whose shores We
now invade. Their literature is not contempti
Bile, and education is honored amongst them in
a manner which may putthe nations of the ives
TO shame. FiiaI pieIy and the family affections
are praclised in China as much as in Europe
Whether we look at their numbers, their inlelli
gence, or their power, the inhpbitanls of China
are not fitting objects of contempt. True it i.
that their civilization is not as ours; il seems un
able to reach beyond a certain point. 1t ha:
been arrested in mid career, struck as il were
by catalepsy; but still under its forms four hun
drrd millions Of human beings have enjoyed
vast degree of security and happiness.
As time has rolled on it has come into coils
sions with more powerful element than ilse
and the history of mankind seems but written tC
tell US that in these cases the weaker must give
way. Is it, however, 10 be a question of des
truclion or of fusion! Are the arts of peace Of
the implements of war to be the engines EN-
ployed! TO the eh'emnale anguor Of Peru; tC
the inefficient tyranny Of the Aztec kings, to
the fantastic dreams Of Brahmanical poity, the
contact with Europeans has proved utter annihi
laton. Has the curtain just been raised on the
first scene of a similar tragedy in the course o
years TO De played out in Chinsl We thinG
not. We trust that day will never come wher
the British flag will be hoisted as the signal o
aggression on the Chinese soil. The report o
the committee appointed to inquire into the du
ties, which sat last session, sufficiently indicate,
the method in which we must deal with this
great empire. If our commercial relations with
China are not indefinitely extended, the fault
lies at our own door. We should blush 10 con.
less, that in commercial liability Chinese states.
men have set us an example which as yet we
have not seen fit to follow. As the products o
the industry of the two nations are exchanged
European arts and European ideas will gradual
ly creep in and lructiiy amongst people who
are proverbaly quick at recognising the value
Of foreign arts and inventions. Let us not lool
in TOO angry spirit at the natural fears of mer
who cannot comprehend the meaning of ou
actions, or the purport of our policy. We ap
pear to them as yet like the Genii to the fisher
man in the Arabian tale, gradually swelling int
gigantic power-a slight unin,elligible and sug
geslive of destruction"
We notice with much pleasure that the theor,
so prevalent in this and most other countries
that the wages of the laborng man necessaril,
diminishes in proportion TO the density of Ih
populallon-is conwadcted by the condition O
the Chinese Empire. Mr.. Everett shows tha
though the nominal amount paid to the Chimes
uborsr is small, it yet procures for him grea
ter quantity of the luxuries and necessaries G
life than the nominaly greater wages of labo
rers can procure for them in those counirie
which we consider among the most prosperou
in the "outside world" Mr.. Everett makes th
following statement Of the wages Of labor il
China. The abstract question upon which the,
have bearing is one of much interest to ever
politician who looks beyond The passing event
Of The day:
Tne wages usually paid to domestic servant