Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1900-12-07
DR.. CRAWFORD TALKS
Of THINGS IN CHINA
Was One Of the Ablest and
Most Valuable Mission
aries Near Pekin.
FOREIGNEGS MUST HAVE POWER
Considerable Small Pox Re
ported From Over the
State-Other News.

Jackson, Miss, Dec. 3.-Dr. Craw
ford, missionary of the Baptist
church, who has spent the past fifty
years Of his life in the interior of
China near Pekin, was a visitor in
Jackson Sunday, and delivered very
interesting lecture ON Chinese meth
ods and customs at the morning SER
vice in the Baptist church.
DIR. Crawford Is recognized as one
of the ablest and most prominent mis-
ionaries of the Baptist church en-
ployed In the Oriental field, and dur
ing his half century of residence in
the Flowery Kingdom the venerable
old gentleman has been close stu
dent and observer of passing events.
The mission over which he has
charge is one of the largest and most
important in the Chinese Empire,
and the very close study he has made
of the people of China and their So
| cial, industrial and political condi-
tions renders his views on the exist
ing troubles of China with the other
nations of the world of especial inter-
est. In discussing the pending peace
negotiations and their bearing on the
future of China he said:
1T is absolutely impossible at the
present stage of the diplomatic game
to tell what the future may bring
forth. Ibelieve that the powers mean
we'll toward China, and I feel conf
dent that they are not seeking to tear
the empire to pieces and divide it
among themselves. It is possible
that an agreement will be reached
that will prevent future friction, but
am very much afraid that the result
will be an unhappy one. China is her
own worst enemy, and if the powers
do not hit the nail on the head, so to
speak, the empire will be thrown into
a reign of anarchy such as the world
has never seen before. The Chinese
are peculiar people to deal with and
most difficult to understand, and it
is matter of history that they have
resisted all our efforts at civilization,
preferring to bottle themselves up
and live without intercourse with the
outside world. Unless the peace ne
gotiations are conducted with extreme
| caution fear that the ultimate result
will be an unhappy one. The Chinese
commissioners may agree Ito all that
is asked by the foreign powers, but the
difficulty will present itself in en-
forcing this agreement among the peo-
pie, who are now, and will ever con-
tinue to be, suspicious of foreigners.
Even though partition of the Chi
nese empire should be made, it
would be impossible for the nations
of the earth to govern the subdivisions
over which they assumed control.
Under existing conditions, the
foreigners have u great deal of power
For instance, converts Of the Catholic
church, and they are being made each
year by the thousands, are not subject
to the local government, but are con-
| trolled, and their crimes and abuses
corrected almost entirely by the
priesthood and church government.
The same conditions exist, but in a
lesser degree, among the converts of
the Protestant churches. All this
has tended to inflame the people
against what they consider wrong
full invasion, and I greatly fear that
each succeeding generation will see
a repetition of the Boxer uprisings
and display of other forms of an
nrchy. Villages will plunder each
other, people will be murdered by the
thousands, and all commerce and
traffic will be suspended unless the
pending peace treaty is formulated
along lines that will be satisfactory
to the Chinese people. Putting the
entire question as briefly as possible,
we have been too harsh in our deal
ings with the Chinese people. Our
civilization has been like three huge
circular saws, one political, one COM
mercial and the other religious, that
have been eating their way through
the empire, and the saving operation
has not been scientific one. We can
not deal with the Chinaman as we deal
with an American, for he is jealous
being of sily-infiamed passions and
quick to resent an intrusion. He is
next to the Caucasian in intellect, is
vastly more patent, has no inventive