Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-02-07
The Population of China.
IlAhn natnnprat

A writer in the North China Herald. dis
cussing the cause of the increase in the
population of China, and the increasing
energy of the Chinese race, which enables
1t to absorb other peoples and always to
conquer in the struggle for existence re-
marks that the native statistics show that
it was not until the end of the seventeenth
century that the population went beyond
six-million. From the period onward it
has grown continuously, in.spite of famine,
wars, and peStilencs, and is OVERLOOKING
into other countries and causing political
disquietude. The causes of this are a
mild and paternal government. the extern
sion of foreign trade, and the spread of
emigration. In this period there were
two great reigns, these of Canghi and
kienlung which lasted about sixty years
each. the greater number of which were
years of profound tranquility and benef-
cent legislation. The educational system
also. which extends to every village and
leads to the vast increases of persons CON
nected with teaching and literature. and to
a multiplication of occupations has stimn-
lated the increase or population. while
foreign trsde has vastly increased the
number of persons ingaged in agriculture
The cultivation of silk has grown euor-
mouSly under the influence of the foreign
export, and with il the number of PERSONS
engaged in tending mulberry trees. feed
ing sllkwormS. spinning, weaving, whole
sale and retail trade in silk, etc. Out of
the 81. 900 600 of which the population is.
according to the latest official statistics.
composed, about one in ten is engaged in
agriculture, one in 100 is bricklayer or
mason. one in l2O Is tailor, one in l40 is
a blacksmith, and one in nine washer
man while about one in 100 Is Il carpenter
All these classes are largely benefited by.
and increase and multiply with. foreign
trade. Lastly, emigration has caused an
increase in the population to a remark
able degree. The places of those who
leave are soon filled up, and when the
emigrantS return with their wealth they
react upon the general prosperity. and
consequently the population. Is putting
heir capital into local enterprises and
thus adding their quota to the wealth of
the nation.
Why The Chinese Emigrate.
Sis John Bowring not only testifes to
this perpetual outflow of Chinese emigrantS.
but he paints in vivid colors the causes
which lead to these results. He says:
There Is probably no part of the world in
which the haryestS of mortality are more
sweeping and destructive than in China,
producing voids which require no ordinary
appliances to fill up. Multitudes perish
absolutely from want of the means of ex-
istence; foundations destroy towns and
villages. and all their inhabitants. it would
not be easy to calculate the loss of life by
the typhoons and hurricanes by which boats
and JunsS are SOmstImeS sacrificed by hum
dredS and by thousands The late civil
wars in China must have led to the loss Of
millions of lives. The sacrifices of human
beings by executions alone are frightful. "
1t Is such condition of things. and such
causes as these, that induce the laboring
classes OF Chinese to emigrate TO other
countries Considering the incentive which
exists in these denSely- populated districts
to escape from the misery which marks
their existence, and to seek new lands
where their condition may be bettered. the
| dangers that threaten from such mex
| haustible sources of human supply become
easy of a1praciatiOa