Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-05-12


time to 20 mouldy. II you come nome
at night after dinner. very tired' oewaIc
OF carelessly throwing your evea'ne
clothes over q chair. a. you wouia - =.
home. II you do. the cocKroaches VIZ
l have destroyed them before you wsno
they must be hung up In WARDROBE.
with hermetical.y- fitting doors. IL ooe7
happen. too, that men die IN summer
| In Hongkong between sunrise ana sun
set without rhyme or reason. an. .,~n
community IL q pale-faced one thousn
g ,s only right to add that IT numbers
probably as many athletes and vigorous
workers as any other. a.
THE section OF the book devote1 10
French Indo-C China makes us wohuer .nas
the French have not been driven gu. y,
,ha country long ago. Imbecility ana
yarslitv would seem TO characterize the
administration through and through. anu
the military and the civilians are
Cross purposes. not to say daggefs points,
Ali the time. Mr.. Norman Is never '"o
hero of his own adventures, even wneh
he ,oes ont OF the beaten track OF tne
ard,narv traveller Only modest men
,,on NJ himself is to be found In DIS
hoIdest enterprises In the way OF ex-
nloratlon. vet some OF these enterprises
eaIied for the exercise of astonishing
nerve and wonderful fertility III eApe
dents The author makes no secret Vi
his dislike OF the Chinese, ana III eon
Guiding his chapter on emma anu '"s
great Powers he says: ,,.o
.,To conclude. the truth Is that IKE
a,roost everything else In CHINA her
ana,.,va and defensive power Is a snam.
The offspring Of corruption ana pompast
40 inoG,ciency. The Viceroy IL said 10
M. that along the thousands OF mics OF
~ ,rortiar between China and Russia
,he former was strong and the latter was
weak Yet considerable proportion y,
TIE troops in Northern emma Is hI'n.u
nth aint-Iocks. gingals. and bows ana ar
W. "a .,iIi ,yifh the bow Is still con-
stdared a most desirable military arr:
cnrdor with his habitual frankness. toid
~ that for China TO think OF hsh'ihs
RUSSIA was sheer madness. Ana even
cantain Lang in the interview .'o7,
which I have already quosei' uecldieo
that when under arms. one htiI Oh 'he
chinese army is made up OF savages.
force made up half OF coolies. torn from
their homes. afraid OF their weapons.
c,a ,norine for their ray. driven forward
nv the lash. punished by the headsmin's
knife. and half of uncomfortable saw
ago. defiers OF their own officers. IN
suffers OF foreigners. plunderers OF pea
santry torturers OF prisoners, muderers
OF missionaries. outragers or women mu-
tilators OF the dead is not the KIND OF
army with which Englishmen should de-
sire to stand shoulder to shoulder, ana
the sooner we learn 10 look for our east
ern alliance elsewhere than In China the
better"
In his admiration for the japanese Mt.
Norman goes almost TO the other ex-
IRENE. and OF the future OF the nation
writes:
.'The japan Of tomorrow has nothing
to fear except from herself. There are
certain signs OF threatening danger. how
ever, which students of her history and
critics of he- institutions cannot over
look. The first Of these springs from her
very success in rivalling western nations
In their manufacturing industries. While
we have succeeded, after many struggles.
in mitigating the horrors OF the old fac-
tory system. and are sui occupied In
devising fresh safeguards for the future,
japan is complacently allowing identical
evils to grow up in her midst II Is time
for her 10 realize that even though her
army and navy become the most power
full In the world. the title Of 'civiiized
cannot properly apply 10 her SO long as
young children work twelve hours day
in her factories. The character of her
people. to which Is due in the last analy-
sis every success that she has achieved.
has sprung from tn. free development OF
individual character and il is seriously
threatened by the rapid growth of great
manufacturing industries which tend,
when unrestricted to reduce the indi-
vidual man TO mere cog In the me-
chanism, and which eat up the lives OF
women and children. Upon this point |
may be permitted 10 repeat what / have
said before. When Japan rings with the
rattle of machinery: when the railway
when the boiler chimney has dsfaced her
choicest spots as the papsr-makers have
already obi;eratei the delights Of Oh;
when the traditions Of Yashiki and Shi-
zoku alike are all finally engulfed in the
barrack-roon: when her art reckons its
output by the thousa nd dozen: when the
power in the land is shared between the
professional politician and plutocrat;
when the peasant has been exchanged
for the factory hand the kimono for
the slop-suit. the tea-house for the music
hall. the gesha for the lion comique.
and the daimio for the beer-peer-Japan
will have good cause to doubt whether
she has made n wise bargain. Her great
est triumph will come. IL ever when she
has shown that while adapting and even
improving the western methods OF in
fuence and power she is able 10 guard
herself from falling into the slough OF
social and economical difficulties In
which European ard American societies
are wallowing and from which one may
almost doubt whether they will succeed
In emerging without leaving civilization
behind them for good
With statistics. descriptions OF the man.
ners and customs Of the people OF the
countries he visited. Mr.. Norman's book
IS crowded. The chapters on the Por'u-
guese and the Spanish colonies and Ko-
rea are short. but comprehensive. and