Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-19
THE RURAL MASSES IN CHINA.
Hopeless Povcrty-EnrIy Marriages
Joint Family .YstcM.

"A family, consisting of eight Dcrsors.
owns an acre and half Of land The
land WIS bought by the grandfather of
the present head, and has never been sub
divided since or added to. He grows
about seventy .bushtls of rice and thirty
five of wheat, and some vegetables and
cotton besides, worth altogether in mon
ey about $50. He has Two nephews who
work outside and bring home something
to help, and in that why they get along,
but they are very poor. He pays govern
ment land tax to the extent of 315O Il
year. He and all his neighbors wear ma
tive blue cloth, spun and woven in the
family by the women from cotton grown
by themselves. He never wore foreign
cotton. The coat he had on "a well-worn
affair had been made two years previous.
ly, and it would last two years more. 1t
served him at night. MS coverlet as well
ms coat by dry.
| Another family owned four acres odd.
only part of which was suitable for rice
culture. Their income was about 80
bushels of wheat and $50 of rice, about
a fourth of which they could usually sell.
They paid something over 80 a year MS
government land tax. They also grew
more cotton than they could use, and
sold every year about so worth. They
were better off than some of their neigh
bors, but never saved any money. They
had fifteen mouths to feed.
The foregoing cases are given because
they represent fairly the average condi-
ton to be found in rural China. The
greater number of cultivators probably
belong to the class of tenants. Some say
the proportion of tenants to peasant pro-
prietors is as seven to three others put
it as three to two ; but, whether tenant or
proprietor, the condition of the ctIltiva-
tor is much the same-that is, it rarely
rises above what is Just enough for the
bare necessaries of life. My own obser-
vations have been mostly confined to this
and tho adjoining provinces, and | ex-
clude the cultivators of tea, silk and
opium, who, growing n commodity more
and more in demand and easily transport
able, are in n far better position than the
ordinary peasant but speaking for the
greater part of China, l believe I am not
overstating the case in saying that for the
working agricultural masses it is daily
hand-to-hand struggle with want. In a
succession Of good years they are very
comfortable they have enough to eat
and to wear, and they have few other |
wants; but population is ever increasing
up to the food limit, and when bad year
or two comes they die off by hundreds or
thousands.
Two or three causes may readily be |
named as having mainly conduced to this |
state of things-causes which are gene
rally to be found among Asiatic races.
The rule prohibiting the devolution of
property by will. and making division
compulsory among all male children,
tends rapidly to reduce all holdings to
minimum-that is to the very lowest
quantity out of which it is possible to
make living. Here, as everywhere else,
energy and good luck raise individuals to
position of wealth, who may, If they
choose, become large landowners I; but in
the course of n few generations this uni
versal equalizer, aided by the apathy of
the ordinary Chinese when in comforta-
BILE circumstances, will have reduced
things to the former dead level. Another
equally potent factor is the habit Of too
early marriages. Parents deem it reli-
gious duty to provide matches for their
children as socn rs they are Of marriage
able years, and the young people go to
the altar in much the same way as they
go to school in Europe. 1t never occurs
to them to ask first whether they have the
means to marry or whether there will be
enough to fill the mouths that may come
afterward. The evil is further aggrava-
ted by the joint family system, which
takes responsibility off ones own shout
ders and puts it jointly on that of half
dozen others. When man knows that
he will get an equal share of what is GO
| ing, whether he earns it or no, and that
| the benefit of his denying himself any
4 a., -,
as well as to himself, great motive for
| thrift is withdrawn.
| In one respect the Chinese peasant is in
better position than the Indian ryot he
is not in debt to money lenders. But |
do not know that that is virtue for which
| he is entitled to much credit, for there is
no class of money! lenders to whom he
could get in debt Indeed, am not sure
that he is not thereby in less advanta-
geous position, for when hard years come
he has no means Of pledgiug his proper
| ty, which, if he could, might save him
| from sheer starvation.
1t is II melancholy thought, but it seems
inevitable, both in the case OF the Chinese
and Indian peasant. that the great bulk
should necessarily be III state of con-
slant poverty. The food production is
limited, and TIE growth of the population
unlimited. A good and stable govern
ment may remove many natural checks
on the latter, with the object of improv-
ing the condition of the people, but it is
doubtful if that is any real kindness. 1t
only postpones the inevitable, and drives
them on to another check all the more
terrible because delayed. Emigration
aud self-restraint, the only true remedies,
are hopeless in dealing with an ignorant
population counted by hundreds OF mil