Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1883-11-02
''E RURAL MASSES IN CHINA.
'es Poverty EarIy Marriages
Joint Family system.

"N A"lAU NdN uVuphU hN lhc
gi"diather Of the present head and
mas never been subdivided since nor
auua to. lie grows about seventy
bushels Of rice and seyenty-fve of
what and some vegetables and cotton
oesles worth altogether in money
apoN s4O lie has two nephews who
Woik outside and bring home some
tnihg to help, and in that
waythey get along, hut are very poor
lie pays government land tax 20 the
extent Of $50 a year lie and all his
nelghbors wear native blue cloth, spun
and woven in the family by the women
from cotton grown hy themselves. lie
never wore foreign cotton Tho coat
he had on "a weI.-worn AFFAIR." hal
been made two years previously, and it
would last two years more 1t served
him at night as a coverlet a. well as a
coat By day.
Another family owned four acres
odd, only part of which wa, suitable
for rice culture. Their income was
about eighty bushels Of wheat and $50
of rice. about fourth of which they
could usually SELL They paid some
thing over 81 a year as government
land tax They also grew more cotton
than they could use, and sold every
year about $40 worth They were
better off than some Of their neighbors,
but neers saved any money. They had
fifteen mouths to feed.
The foregoing cases are given he
cause they represent fairly the average
condition to be found in rural China
! The greater number of cultivators
4 probably belong to the class OF tenants.
Some say the proportion Of tenants tc
/ peasant proprietors is as seven to three
others put it as three TO two; but
whether tenant or proprietor, the con
! dition Of the cultivator is much th'
same that is it rarely rises abov
what is Just enough for the bar
neeessaries of life Ny own observa
tions have been mostly confined to thi
and the adjoining provinces. and eN
cluded the cultiyators Of tea, SILK an
opi4-spcs no, growing commodit
-i'ct' \ ct's'if ka'''s' are in a-rar retscr pos
tion an the ordinary peasant br
speaking for the greater part Of Chin;
l oelle'e | am not oyer-stating the cas-
IN saying that for the working agricu
tural masses it is a daily hand to han
struggle with want. In a successio
OF good years they are very comfort
able, they have enough to eat and t
wear, and they have few other wants
but population is ever increasing up t,
the food limit and when bad year O
two comes they die off by hundreds o.
thousands.
Two or three causes may readily BE-
named as having mainly conduced tC
this state of things-causes which arc
generally to be found among AsiatiC
races. The rule prohibiting the
devolution of property by viii. 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 a living. Here.
as everywhere else, energy and good
luck raise individuals to a position of
wealth, who may, if they choose, be-
come large land owners but in the
course Of few generations this uniyer-
sal equaliSer, aided by the apathy of
the ordinary Chinese when in comfort
able circumstances, will have reduced
things to the former dead level
Another equally potent factor is the
habit of too early marriages. Parents
deem it religious duty to provide
matches for their children as soon as
they are ofmarriageable years, and the
young people go to the altar in as much
the same way as they go to school in
Europe. 1t never occurs to them to
ask first whether there will be enough
to fill the mouths that may come after
wards. The evil is further aggravated
by the joint family system. which
takes the responsibility off ones
shoulders and puts it jointly on that
of half dozen others. When the man
knows that he will get an equal share
Of what is going whether he earns it or
no, and that the benefit of denying him
self any particular indulgence viii
accrue to others as well as to himself
/ great motive for thrift is Withdrawn.
In one respect the Chinese peasant
S in a better condition than the Indian
yot he is not in debt to money-lend-
RS. But do not know that that is
-irtue for which he is entitled to much
redit, for there is no class of money
snders to whom he could get in debt
indeed, am not sure that he is not
hereby in less advantageous posi-
on, for when hard years come he has
Q means Of pledging his property
-hich, if he could, might save him
ON sheer starvation.
A Touching Romance.
Twenty-dve Asars ago two 1o,.ors