The age-herald., 1897-12-26
THE WORLDS MAP
 ID BE CHANGED The Situation as It Really Exists
 in the Far East. RUSSIA, FRANCE, GERMANY Are in an Alliance to Acquire Certain
 Territory in China. "E'T"E" "'T'2k 7 BE DIVIDED  Among the GreS ssAvaI Powers of the
 Ge s-ed World. A MARcHs LIEN ON GREAT BRITAIN
Among the GrsS .SAvaI Powers of the
 GS led World.
A nAnoH ffrs ON GREAT BRITAIN
Who Has Been Over the Field and Should Know the True Condi-
 ton in the Tar East.
BY E. ". BARRETT.

The Associated Press dispatches indicate that throughout the civilized world there is much ado because Russia is occupying Port Arthur in China, and Germany has taken possession of the harbor of Kiao- Chou and a certain quantity of land Dor. dering on the same.
 This is the beginning of radical change soon to be made in the map of the world Within less than a year the publishers of geographies will have to make entirely new plates and publish new editions.
 Much of China is to be divided up among the civilized nations of the world.
 Everyone remembers that when Japan declared war against China and hostilities commenced, predictions were made throughout the civilized world that China would whip Japan. No less a parsonage than George N. Curzon, under secretary of foreign affairs of Great Britain, who had spent several years in the far east gain, ing data for a work the condition of affairs in the Orient, added a chapter to his great work just before it came from the publisher reviewing the causes of the war and predicting that China would be successful. Such predictions were made by hundreds of alleged authorities on the east. ern situation. They believed that the cen- tral government of China with its great wealth could arm, equip and put in the field millions of troops. They also knew that China possessed many of the greatest cruisers and armored battleships afoat. But they did not seem to realize that the Chinese did not know how to fight them. There are two things a Chinaman appar- ently cannot learn One is to manage a horse and the other is to fight. A China man must have loophole or channel through which he can escape in the event he decides to flee before he will agree to fight. This was thoroughly evidenced when the Japanese fleet attacked Wei-Hai- Wei. The Chinese fleet of cruisers and battleships there when the Japanese steamed up. Instead of steaming out to and meeting the Japanese feet the Chinese admiral carried his ships into the inner harbor where there was neither room nor depth of water to manipulate them. The Japanese ships wisely remained out side and bombarded the forts and the Chin csc fleet from several miles away While this bombardment was going the Japs sent fleet of torpedo boats under the cover of darkness into the inner harbor and destroyed all the Chinese ships. h. stead of fighting the Chinamen jumped overheard and swam ashore while the gum ners and soldiers in the forts deserted whenever an opportunity presented itself for them to escape.
 Chinaman will Not Fight. The Chinaman will not fight if he can run. There is no patriotism in a China- mans soul He despises his own govern- ment more than any other government on earth. He, perhaps, has a right to. The government is an outrageous and bar barious concern. The people have no rights which are respected by the goverr- ment A Chinaman, unless he be govern. ment official is nothing. He can make no estimate at the beginning of the year of what his taxes will be. The officials of each province extract from the people whatever amount they might want by a system of "squeezes." For instance, China is made up of nine provinces. Each prov ince is presided over by a viceroy which viceroy is appointed by the emperor. And, by the way, in each of these provinces a different language is spoken For instance, a Manchurian cannot understand the lan- guage of a Cantonese, and so it is in the other provinces. Of course, each province is divided into smaller provinces, and these are governed by Tao-Tais. These Tao-Tais
  in their respective provinces. They have no system, but collect whatever they de- sire. If they need any money for general expenses or any money necessary for their own use, they assess the various people in proportion to their wealth. If an assess ment is made upon man, he must pay it or his head is chopped off.
 While the central Chinese government was in the habit of making large appro- priations for the maintenance of troops in the different sections of the empire. 1t was found when war was declared with Japan that there were few troops and that those troops had no arms at all. I well remen- Der the story that was told me by Gen. Jones, the United States consul at Chin- kiang, point about 26o miles above Shanghai on the Yang-Tse river. That
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