Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-06-23

1 the people. They are perfectly Tree TO
| promulgafe any faith they wish. pro-
| vided they cast no contumely on reli-
| gions already established. Confucian-
| SIN, Buddhism and Mohamrnedanism
| have existed side By side for centuries
4 Ia China without prosecuting each oth-
| err The Chinese cannot understand
| The eagernesS Of the Christians to make
| proselytes The missionaries come and
say: oh. you Chinese! You are all
| wrong. Tear down your temples. De
stroy your idols, DO as we do The
Chinese resent this attitude, and when
to their resentment is added superstl-
tious fear trouble follows.
Imagine indeed how you Americans
would feel If Chinese Were to come to
this country and not merely try 20 in
4 culcate the teachings OF Confucius and
Buddha, but even decry the gospel Of
/ Christ. Don't you suppose they would
be mobbed? Then, too, foreign trades
men have often increased the distrusi
| Of the Chinese by the superciHous airs
| they assume toward the natives. Com
petition has improved their manners
| somewhat in recent years but un
doubtedly their abruptness in business
transactions has helped to antagonize
| the Chinese very much.
| "In spite of this / should like TO say
! that the Chinese are naturally very
kindly disposed toward the Americans
| They have never had any trouble with
the United States rs nation. The
| United States. in fact, stood by them
! on a number of occasions.
"rhe present rising against foreign
ers seems to have been occasioned, un
less | am greatly mistaken, by the
ruthless way in which some foreign
engineers-happily not Americans
| have pushed forward their railroads
| without regard to the rights or wishes
| of Chinese property owners. | most
| emphatically believe in railroads, but
/ think that just compensation ought
to be made for the land every time.
81 do not believe that the present
difficulty will last long. The Boxers
are not an organized society. They
are simply a mob of fanatics. With
out some form of organization, some
| definite head and some consistent plan
they cannot accomplish anything
Some of the dispatches say that the
emperor's edict against them is eva
sive. | have not seen the edict ID
Chinese, but l feel sure it is not eva
sive. 1t Is probably the best kind OF
an edict for the occasion.
"The Chinese government Will meet
this difficulty adequately, but In its
own way. That way is not the Euro
! pean way, to be sure, but it may be
equally effective. BY sending troops
to suppress the mobs and by having
the magistrates make proclamations In
the several towns the government will
| eventually restore order. The emperor
probably feels that the people have
erred through ignorance and that II
would be sheer barbarism to use the
sword right and left and exterminate
whole villages In accordance with the
suggestion of some.
II felt immensely relieved that no
demonstration of hostility attended the
landing of the foreign marines in Chi
ma They entered Picking, too, on the
day of the great dragon festival, when
the people were naturally excited with
more or less drinking and hilarity and
when 1t would not have been difficult
to stir hostile feeling to pitch of ia
naticism. | think 1t speaks well for
the self control of the Chinese that
they behaved so admirably on that oc-
casion, and 1t leads me to think that
this present disturbance will be of
short duration.
"The dragon festival occurs on the
fifth day of the fifth month of our year
and is kept In memory of a great
statesman whom we venerate as he
TO. He strongly disapproved some
harsh measures of the reigning sover-
eign and reproached him for them.
For that he was put to death by
drowning. We honor him as faithful
servant, and on his day we have a
4 great festival on the water. Most of
the boats are fashioned after the like
ness of dragons and shoot through the
water like long snakes. There are
races between the different dragon
boats. while people on other boats
beautifully decorated with flowers
watch the course of events. 1t was
on such day that the foreign soldiers
quietly made their entrance into Pc
king.
1.-TWO things, in my Judgment, are
necessary In China before the people Of
my country will be on proper footing
toward the rest of the world. They are
education and railroads. The dark
clouds of ignorance must be dispelled
by the bright light of knowledge. Su-
perstition must go. Education alone Is
not enough, however, for 1t is largely
a matter of theories. The people must
be brought into actual contact with
other nations. | rejoice over every
mile of track that Is laid, and I hope
that many will be the American in
vestors In future who see fit to put
their money into Chinese railroads
Another step toward a better under
standing between the Chinese and for