The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
Tho Great Non-Jinso Country.

China Is the most conspicuous example
In the world to-day OF the American Mug.
wump's ideal. a country that takes little
or no interest in the art OF war, and
makes no adequate preparations for self
defence. It's present danger, therefore,
from nations who cynically rely on the law
of the stronger. is a striking comment on
the fortunately few people in our own
land who denounce resistance to foreign
demands, and oppose such appropriations
for the military and naval forces as will
make this resistance possible.
China, IL the paradise of the civil service
crank, furnishes q striking illustration Of
things that ought not to be in armies and
navies. A country of enormous resources,
and Of unequalled and prodigious popula.
ton from which to draw soldiers and
sailors, it was crushed with ease by little
Japan, a pigmy athlete compared to the
Chinese mountain of flesh.
1t seems extraordinary that an empire Of
more than $50, 600 people should sub.
init, without firing a shot, to the forcible
seizure of one Of it's strategic bays by Ger
many, which is under the enormous disad-
vantage of having to send it's troops from
the other side of the globe, and has to-day
only q few thousand men On the Asiatic
coast. But it is the old story of the knowl-
edge Of the art Of war and readiness
for war, against ignorance and unreadi-
ness. In Japan's campaigns, Japan, though
far inferior in population, actually put
more soldiers than China on the field in each
battle of Importance. 1t was notably so at
Ping Yang, the principal land engagement
of the war, where Count YAMAGATA's men
much outnumbered the Chinese, although
the latter were fighting on their own soil,
while every japanese soldier had to be
brought by water.
The testimony of some foreign observers
Is that the Chinese could be made a good
fighting force. Certainly they do not lack
their share of willingness to give up life.
But the military profession in that country
does not stand where it should. The i'm
p%ortance Of public defence is not appre-
ciated. Patriotism is not in China what
It is in our land. We see there, as an
English writer has said, "the senility
Of the imperial house, the corruption
Of the highest official class, the DOM
nance of the debasing idea that it is not
for civilized men like the Chinese to fight
for any cause" From such things we learn
why the Chinese so largely neglect military
preparations and make nc adequate efforts
to preserve their national honor. When
we recall that the Japanese troops who 80
easily triumphed over China are said to
have numbered only about o 1000 men In
effective fighting strength, the feebleness
Of the Chinese military establishment is
manifest. When it is recorded that the
Japanese who were killed in action or died
Of their rounds numbered fewer than
1000, it Is further seen how weak was the
Chinese resistance. And to-day the few
thousand Germans landed at Kiao Chou
Bay have been able to work their will.
Such a spectacle may have some lessons
for us. Although there is no comparison
at all between public spirit in America and
what may pass for it in China. yet we MAJ
well see that it is not safe to neglec,
measures for public defence. The despicabl,
Mugwump sentiment that always favor
yielding to foreign dictation rather thar
standing up for American rights, nigh
reduce us, if it were not happily of n,
weight in our national conduct, to tn
level of China's impotence to-day.