Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-01-11
: psss.s.s.. vs..a v..s......

a Tho January number Of the
E 11ugnnfteN Review there 10 q
~ pretentious article on the Chi.
~ onoetion. The subject is
ontod from , dilettantj and phi
eohieal fAthsr than from an in
repted polnt Of view. When DR..
ontool Johnson and the poet Saw
~ neo1 70 wander around the pur.
sae % london, they occasionally
Q(lo1led Into the fishmarket-the
1anop1 Dilllngsgate-where they
~ rude fellows skinning cells
rllya and cursing them because
& Ncv Wriggled. Either johnson or
1Nogo wsre oompetent to write, In
soeo OF verse, . moral essay upon
qtlDrmance which, though they
Aonld respond TO all the modern
0onnnltafian instincts In treating
vould be devoid OF excitement
- thsm. Only IN eel, though
& Molther poetAster, poet nor essay ist,
ocold DO juhtics to the subject.
while Eastern reviewers descant
- the Chinese question, Califor-
\. -, and the other States of the Pa
fo1o Qoast, are In the condition of
- 1illingsgAts eel. This section
- been practically skinned alive
~ ~ HongolIan. All our prodi-
80 outputs of treasure; all our
1eooOenal exports OF wheat and
- tthet cereals, have been rem.
4 Deo4 70 large degree, nugatory
u ~ The presence here Of the almond
soyoe l1i1d OF Asia.
Iho Eoviewer Of the International
ooplies himself, with . calm, self
Doiood oonlldence, to the momen.
49, Chinese question. His atti.
4 - y very much like that Of the
Z DzBoon, who. With scalpel in
knnd, In the dIssecting room, ID
10y. with . ''subject" protected
~ ~ cold obstruction of death
~ point 10 altogether ignored
hAt, - respects the Pacific Coast
- . dead but q very live "sub
1T" u being handled. Like the
~, In the fishmarket, at every ap
Yeoach Of the knife our people
& Wxiggls.
The sssayist In the international
applles himself to . very elaborate
1nquiry into the real population
81 - China. He treats a. fictions tn
1tAtsments of those statie
ITALIANS who accord to the Flower.
xingdom population ranginl
fEom four 10 i've hundred millions
He dwells upon the uncertainty O
I'll Chinese statistics. He forti6e
himself by summaries of the geo
graphical features of the country
and dsducsb from his rapid survey
and comparisons with Belgium
and other countries, the conclusion
that the population Of China ha
eeen grossly overestimated. H
y aeorlbes the expanded figures hith
esto current to the desire of tn
chinese government to exaggerat
eheir importance.in the scale of ns
items. This branch of his inquir
b By no means lacking in ingenu
ity. He attaches to official report
Of the Chinese government th
opirit Of exaggeration which il
here's In nearly all oriental stat,
Dents.
In reply to this. reviewer, 1t
eumcient to cay that in anOthe
oriental uation-India-very exae
otatisticians have enumerated th
population. British geographerl
aided by British officials. have lei
little to conjecture as respects Ii
s. dta. It 10 hardly supposAbls tina
with familiarity with the Orler
embracing fully two hundre
years, the people and geographel
ct England could err very great
~ to the population of India. B
common consent Of all geographer
Chtns amazingly outnumbers Ii
die In human beings, and India
conceded to embrace close upo
two hundred and fifty millio
souls.
Nevertheless, this Eastern r,
Viewer to his own satisfaction, n
duces the population of China
ono hundred and twenty million
The com placency which he tax,
In bis stattsticRl fs~t ia -heyond q
admifation. He goes at the prol
lem In the epirit OF the philosoph,
Who, when told that the facts di
agreed with his theory, said 6
& much the worse for the facts. l
bls effort to dissipate the tremer
dous and procreant hordes of ASH
Z he achieves agumentstive finess,
and nothing more.
But, for the sake OF argumen
z admitting that the population ,
Chius numbers only one hundre
and twenty millions; admittin
thats ~ respects the teeming Eas
ern States, with their rapidly aug
\ unsntfug ffty millions. more Z
tooe, there are no terrors in th
Chtness question; admitting this
okoan and dOeile and uiicon m MIA =
Ing labor would be boon to th