The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-04-15
ACROSS THE PACIFIC
An Ocean Ride Through Storm
and Snow from America to Asia.
Japan in a Tumult Over Elections
Chinese Unfriendly to Americans
Carpenters Tour and Its Dangers.

lCOpyrlgnteO, 1874, Dy FRANK ". Cdrpenler.t
YOKOHAMA, Japan, March founder
the shadow of the snow-clad mountain Flu
giyami! In the heart Of flowery Japan
when the snow is on the ground, In the
land of the rising sun with the sun left
Quit Surrounded by a bare-necked, bare
chested and almost bare-legged nation on
stills. / shiver in my overcoat as / write
for the homes of the base-burner and the
furnace. Within the past three weeks I
have travelled 5000 miles and have now
nearly reached the other side of the globe.
am on my way to interior China, and a
month later / will be in the very center
Of the great Chinese empire. 1 have come
to the far East to tell you of the wonder
full changes that are taking place on the
other side of the world. Asia is now one
of the great news centers of the globe.
1t is making history faster than either
America or Europe, and wonderful change
is going on among the nations of slant
eyed humanity which is bound to affect
every man. woman and child in christen-
dom. This land of Japan made the start
and il has now on it's feet the seven league
boots of modern progress. 1t is jumping
ahead faster than any people have ever
jumped in the past, and within twenty
years it has grown more in civilization
than the European nations have advanced
in centuries. 1 see from a Japanese news 2
paper of this morning that Japan made
last year one hundred and twenty million
postal cards at cost of 80 cents per thou
sand. L can hardly realize it, and think
there must be mistake in the figures. But
there is no doubt that the postal service
here is as good and as cheap as that Of
the United States, and these people run
tbair Stal viz To-
everything in silver more cheaply than we
do paying in gold The banking systems.
railroads, telegraphs and schools of Japan
are managed almost as carefully and as
intelligently as those of the United States.
There are one hundred periodicals pub
lished in the city of Toxic alone, and the
newspapers are read by millions. In bust
and manufacturing a large scale
there is movement all over the land, and
reports of the elections, which are now talk
ing place in the different provinces, show
as many Quarrels and as much bribery as
though the Japs had taken lessons of our
ring politicians.
CHANGES IN CHINA.
slower but as sure a revolution is go
ing on in China. The four hundred odd mil
lions of pig-tailed Celestials are pulling the
Sits OF their button-hole eyelids apart and
it is only a question of time how soon they
will be putting their wonderful muscles
their sharp business brains and their five
cents-a-day habits of living into COMPETE
ton with our eight-hour, two-dollar-a-day
laborers as TO the manufactured products of
the world. They have coal and iron in ev-
cry one of their eighteen provinces. They
can 90 as good work as we can, and they
will work twelve hours for one-twentieth
he hot ~ fhax,
enter the modern manufacturing race the
question will not be one of competition. 1t
will be one of existence, and we will have
to build a protective tariff barrier about
the country as high as the Washington
monument or cut down our living expenses
to the size Of the aluminium tip on the top
of 1t. At the present time big cotton fac
tories have been established in almost the
center of the Chinese empire. They are, i
am told, making cannon and guns as good
as those turned out by our government
works, and the question of railroads is be-
ing agitated by some of the most progress
sive men of the empire. 1t may take genera
tons to bring the country to the state that
Japan has already reached. or the revolu-
ton, precipitated by a war, may come with
a rush. Just now both japan and China are
torn with dissensions on the subject. There
are strong anti-foreign elements, and an
American buyer for a big New York silk
fym told me this morning that he did not
think it safe for him to travel over the
country while the elections are taking place.
The bulk of the people of China are against
the foreigners, and anti-foreign sentiment
increases daily. The literati of the empire
see the possibility Of a revolution, and they
are disseminating all sorts of reports as to
ct 80 %f
the other "red-headed, blue-eyed foreign
devils" as they call us. Out in the country
districts about this place 1 have often
heard the words of Japanese which my in
terpreter tells me mean hairy barbarian
hurled at me, and in the streets of the Chi
nese cities 1 shall probably have to pocket
many an insult to avoid trouble. In Japan.
where the progressive element is in the as
cendancy, and have special letters from
the government it is comparatively safe,
and I shall return here and make an ex-
tended tour in the most out-of-the-way
parts Of the country.
POSSIBLE DANGERS.
The most dangerous part of my journey
I find will probably be among the Chinese
1 shall skip the coast ports and push my
way into the interior. 1 will visit many
large cities some of which are hardly
known to the average reader, and will
travel one thousand miles or more up the
great Yang-tse-kiang river. 1 expect to
visit the old capital Of the empire, known
as Marking, where the famous Porcelain
tower was, and which is now one Of the
centers of the Chinese literati of the land.
II has been called the Athens of China and
it is one of the centers of anti-foreign in
fiuence 1 will take a trip along the Grand
canal, IL possible, and will tell you how
this wonderful artery of Chinese trade is
managed. About seven hundred miles from
the coast there is a viceroy, who is famous
all over the celestial world for his progress
sive ideas. 1 shall spend some time at his
capital the city of Hankow, which, with
| its suburbs, contains more than a million
people, and from thence will push my way
| further into the interior TO Ichang, where
| is some of the most wonderful scenery in
the world. The gorges of the Yang-tse-
| kiang near this point are thousands Of
| feet deep, and they said to have no
superior in their picturesque grandeur. L
will have my photographer with me both in
| the cities and in the country. Leaving this
| part of China, / will next go to the north
and again visit the capital. Picking has a
1 x-,;Iiiop tph hitaptc and 0f fhaSa T doubt