Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-06

great empire.
The Government Departments.
1 went one morning to visit the state de-
partment. and as l looked al it thought
of our great building of the State War and
Navy, which cost, you know, more than ten
million dollars. and which is the biggest
granite building in the world. The street
was mud puddle, and l Rugged low, shack
iy buildings till finally came to a gate at
which a dirty official was standing He
shook his head as L entered, but L pretended
not TO see him, and pushed my way in. l
entered a court, which looked for all the
world like a barn yard surrounded by low
wooden stables, with heavy tiled roofs.
This court filed with donkeys, horses
and dogs, and half-naked children sprawIed
in front of the doors TO these buildings,
which were. in fact. the offices of the de-
partment The buildings were filled with
clerks, who wrote away at bare tables the
light coming in through latticework walls
backed with white paper They scowled at
me al l looked. and one of them gave me
to understand that l had better move on.
next visited the famous Hanlin College.
1t was worse than the state department.,
and everything about it was shabby and
going to seed. / tried to get into the board
of punishments. where the horrible cruelties
which the Chinese government meteS out to
its rebels and criminals are passed upon.
and where torture is common, but 1 was
stopped at the door and was positively told
that / could not go in. 1t was the same
with all the government departments. They
could not have been shabbier had they been
krccked up out of odd pieces of old Noah's
ark, and everything was filthy and the pic
ture Of ruin. The only really new things in
the city seemed to be the clothes of the
officials, and l laughed again and again as
saw these mandarins bow down in the
mud and go through the forms of the Chi
nese court amid their filthy surroundings.
They are among themselves, as far as
words go. the most polite of all nations, and
they look upon US as Doors and barbarianS.
The most Of the people believe that they
will conquer the world. and doubt wheth-
er a thousand out of the million and a half
people in Picking know anything Of the
Japanese victories The court officials dis
tribute all sorts of lies, and they have prob
ably told the people that they have whipped
the japanese on both land and on sea, and
that the mikado will DE brought to Picking
The majority of the citizens of the Chinese
capital really believe that America is SUBJ
ject to China. They think that Col. DENLY
Is sent to the capital to pay Uncle Sans
tribute to their emperor, and this, am told,
is their opinion as to every foreign legation.
They have nicknamed the street upon which
the foreign ministers live "the street of the
subject nations" and they would consider
1t disgrace to ask our minister to dinner,
and l venture that Col. DENLY has never
been on intimate terms with dozen high
class Chinese officials. This, l know. will
seem strange to Americans, but 1t Is actu-
ally the truth.
A Cosmopolitan City.
Picking Is a most cosmopolitan city. We
have In America only the Chinese of South
China These come from the hot countries
at the southern part of the empire, and they
are small and lean in comparison with the
people Of the north. They dress differently
and they have a different dialect and Diff