The Portland daily press., 1898-03-03
CROWDED CHINESE PROVINCE.
Hardships of Life Where There Are From
500 to 1000 People to the Square nile.

Hardships of Life Where There Are From
500 to 1000 People to the Square Mile.
The Overland China Mall OF Hong
Kong says that in density Of populat on
Shantung ranks first among the northern
provinces of the empire. Half the
province is more or less mountainous, but
on the broad plains live from 500 to 2ooo
persons to the square mile. Every vii
lage has some families Of mechanics ana
artisans who own no land. Trades
unions exist in the germ, and even in
branches in which q b1ighb pupil could
learn in few months all that master
could teach him in lifetime. 1t Is neces-
sary to take three years apprenticeship,
with little chance of being able TO se1 up
for himself at the end of that time. When
the apprentice 10 at last free, and gets at
work, his master or boss receives per-
centage on his earnings for an indefinite
period. The density of population makes
1t very hard to get a living in Shantung.
There is large class of men who have
neither land nor occupation. These sell
strength, or hun, as they call it. The
lack of means to support a family is no
barrier to matrimony in China, and Ger
tainly not in Shantung, where Menc1us
lived 1t was he who uttered the d1ctum.
tThere are three unfllial courses, but OF
these not to leave posterity is the chief. :"
This view and the uniform procedure
based upon 1t are held to have been for
centuries the curse of China.
In every village are women and children
who have no visible means Of support.
While the husband and father Is away
trying to sell hun what is his family to
live on? If he sells strength he is doing
well if he gets for years work his food
and 10 strings of cash, each string worth
less than Mexican dollar. 1t is ilnpos-
sible for his family to exist on this pit
tance. If his wife knows how to weave
cotton and has loom, it is clumsy
machine made ages ago. Often two fam1
lies possess one loom, one using it by day
and the other by night. Whenever there
is bad year the loom has to be sofa 10
buy food, and then the night of despair
settles down 'sIf you can't catch up IN
y
steps, says native proverb, and this IS
the condensed biography of millions OF
| Chinese. They were born into the Men.
clan doctrine, and they starve in 1t, ana
| are duly buried and laid to the only rest
they ever know, to be followed by poster
| ity which will repeat the same round.
| The prefecture of T'ao-chou-fu, in the
southwest corner of Shantung. has al
WAYS been nest OF robbers. They cam
| not be exterminated, for the resson that
the farmers themselves unite highway
robbery wish their ordinary occupations.
A peasant who sees an unprotected
| traveller passing on the highway will drop
his hoe, seize his club, ana pFoeeha 20
take money or life. or both, according to
circumstances. Memorials often appear
| in the Pekin Gazette complaining Of the
| intractable disposition of these people and
| their congeners across the kiangsu Dor
der. The latter part of July and the
month of August are periods during
which laWlessness is at q maximum, for
| il is then that detection is next to tmpos-
sible. The sorghum plants, which grow
TO height of from 10 to Is feet, pract1-
cally obliterate all landmarks. 80 far as
| knowing where one goes, one mlghJ as
we'll be plunged in jungle. Even
natives of the region sometimes get loss
within a few miles of their own villages
| on cloudy day.
The autumn crops Of Shantung consist
of millet, beans, Indian corn or maize,
peanuts, melons, squashes, sweet potatoes
| and other vegetables, hemp, sesame, sand
especially cotton. OF all these products
there are barely more than two which do
not cause their owners anxiety lest they
be stolen from the field. The heads OF
| sorghum and millet are easily clipped on.
Nothing is easier than rapidly to despo1l
a patch of corn or to dig potatoes. The
latter, indeed, are not safe from the vii
lage dogs, which have learned by ages OF
experience that raw vegetable food Is
much better than no food at all. What
requires the most unceasing Vigilance are
the watermelon patches ana tne ofcharos.
Of watermelons especially the Chinese are
inordinately fond. Every field is provid-
ed with a lodge, and there is soma one
watching day and night. The same ID
true of the fruit rows. Birds. insects.
and man are the foes of the man who has
apples, pears. peaches, plums, cherries,
aprtcots and grapes.
the more essential 1t is that the watchmar
should be wide awake. If the orchard Is
OF any size there may be collusion be
tween the thieves, who appear at potr
ends at once. Both ssts cannot be pur-
sued The crows and the bluejays are the
worst bird robbers but they can be scarce
off, especially with Is gun. The human
| 0S'~~e
farmers hope is that, seeing that some
one is on guard, they will go elsewhere
and steal from those not on guard
: Hence everybody is obliged to stand guart
over everything. Where the population j
densest the extent to which this watching
must be carried passes belief. In suct
regions about dusk an exodus sets forth
from a village like that in the early
morning to go to the fields to work. By
every path the men, women and ever
beds, covered with layer Of stiff sorghum
stalks are kept out in the fields for con
} stant use. A few sorghum stalks ART
twisted together at the top, and n piece esao o
, and under such a wretched shelter sits {
tcothless old woman all day and al al
night. Female thieves are common, ane
no one hesitates to steal from his neigh
bors.
A Photographic Experiment..
Some have long contended that iumi
nous emanations surround the numat
body. During a recent experiment. IN oafR