Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-29

hood. AS for the Japanese-well. they have
been above fault-ffhding from the very
start Of this trouble. But the conduct OF
the French and Russians is unspeakable.
Fear of Epidemics.
Among the Chinese smallpox and typhus
are spreading with eyer-increasing activity.
Unless means are found Of stamping out
these two dread diseases no earthly power
will be able to prevent fearful illness
among the International troops within the
next few weeks.
And the very fact of these deaths among
the yellow men adds danger to the situa-
ton; The Chinese are afraid to bury their
dead To do so they must carry the bodies
beyond the limits of the city. Time and
again funeral parties leaving Pekin have
been stopped by wanton soldiers-not ours,
these parties have been treated in a most
shocking manner. To a Chinaman respect
for the dead is one Of the simplest and
strongest virtues. To have their dead
treated with wanton disrespect is to bring
direst misfortune upon themselves. The
truth is that the natives no longer dare
to carry their dead to the burying grounds
This being the case. what can they do?
Nothing except to hide the bodies about
their own premises until a time for safe
burial comes.
In the grounds of some of the yards are
new graves, so shallow that few days of
nigh WlN(lS are Su1lclent TO uncover the
bodies. Countless outbuildings contain hid
den bodies The poorer classes of the
natives are obliged to hide the remains of
their departed ones in the same houses
where the living dwell. Could there be
any more frightful menace to the general
health than this? And there are not lack
ing cases where the mourners have been
compelled to throw the bodies down wells.
The water from well drains through the
soil to another well, from there to another,
and so on. The American officers have is
sued strict orders to their men that every
drop of drinking water must be thoroughly
boiled, but soldiers are proverbially care
less about such orders. and but little of
the water, except that served to patients
in hospital, is in the least safe.
This insufficient burial or hiding of bodies
Will continue throughout the city until the
only means is tried that can obviate the
danger. That means would be for the in
ternational commanders to issue edicts for
bldd1ng soldiers, under severest penalties,
10 interfere with native burial parties.
Even more than that is needed. Guards
Of American, English and Japanese soldiers
should be stationed all along the way to
the burial grounds to forcibly prevent any
interference with native mourners. Some
thing of this sort must be DONE or a sea-
son of plague equal in intensity to any that
ever devastated Europe in past centuries
Will fall upon Pekin and its suburbs. 1t
Is not pleasant to record such chastity facts.
but 1t is necessary that people In the
United States should know the whole truth
Then, though they may be shocked, they
will not be taken by surprise when they
read of the frightful epidemics which, at
this writing. seem certain to descend upon
Chinas capital and every dweller within
its gates
Prospect of Famine.
To add to all these horrors, another is
inevitable this winter. The gaunt specter
of famine will stalk through the streets
The province Of Chill, in which Pekin is
situated. has never been a rice or grain
producing center. All food supplies of this
class have come from without They are
not coming at present, for communica tIon
both with the southern and the more north
ern provinces Is shut Off Cinnamon lead
a proverbially hand-to-mouth existence.
This is as we'll typified in Pekin as in any
other part Of the empire. There are no
granarles here OF any consequence. AL
ready food for the natives is scarce. 1t
Will become more and more scarce during
the next few weeks. and will. in a little
while, become unprocurable for the poorer
people. AS the cold weather closes in there
will be no more food for these yellow peo-
pie. They will become so desperate that
no crime will be impossible. Hungry men
do not reason; starving men go mad. By
the time the Ice forms the people here
will all be starving. unless something is
done. and done quickly and largely.
OF course, this threatened famine will
not extend to the troops. The soldiers of
each nation will be fed by their commits
serats. There Is always plenty of army
food here, and more Is coming each day.
But there will not be enough to spare for
the hundreds of thousands of natives who
will have no food Of their own. ss-"~
What is to be done?
Cinnamon here who wealthy enough
are seeking every chance to leave the
city. Outside there is danger from Boxers
and robbers but even this Is preferable
to starvation. The most ignorant realize
he vii hot 10 tnp fhafr fao tnn
plainly show Coolies are f1ocking in drOves
to the American and English camps, offer
ing their toll, and seeming Indifferent to
wages as long as they are sure that their
labor will bring food enough to keep body
and soul together during the cold, desc
late months to come.
Surely, these people of Pekin are be-
ginning to pay fearfully for the outrages
they lately committed against the civilized
world.
1t is not worth while to write much about
the beginning Of the peace negotiations
What IS going on is merely preliminary
sparring on the part of the Chinese Their
trained diplomats will argue with the diplo-
mats of the civilized powers. but all Is
lost when you permit yourself to argue
with a Chinaman-especially IL he be one
who has learned the ways Of superior lying
in the yamens of the leading Chinese states
men. Unless the Germans can have their
way, and substitute a blood-to-the-b brides
policy for diplomatic negotiation this in
terchange of arguments will go on for
months, and matters will be no nearer a
settlement unless the white diplomats con-
cede nine points for every one yielded by
the yellow diplomats. An international
committee consisting Of a Lincoln. Bis
marck and Napoleon would be unequal to
the crisis here, which is, in all respects,
the most puzzling that has ever confronted
the world.
But a good start could be made by chang
ing the methods of police employed by
two of the powers that are represented
here in force B. R. SELWYN.