Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-07-06
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.
TIE IDEAL

known as the Boxers. ms mercnaut
has been interviewed by the London Ex.
press and he speaks with startling frank
ness about the uprising in the East.
Here is his conclusion =
And now, having carefully considered
the matter, we of the so-called Boxers
society have decided that the only way
to get rid of you is to kill you. We arc
not naturally bloodthirsty. We certainly
are not thieves. But when persuasion
and argument and appeals to your sense
of Justice are of nc avail, we find our
selves face to face with the fact that the
only resource is to put you out of eX-
istence. We could if we chose over.
whelm the rest of mankind. That we do
not do so is due to the perfection of our
civilization, our philosophy and our
morals. We number 400, 600, 900 human
beings, and who could withstand us il
we chose to assert our power? Do you
think we are unconscious of it. On the
contrary, we understand it only too well.
Let the white races of the earth ap-
preciate the fact hat we aud not they
are its masters. There have been 20 So
called successful invasions Of China.
But what has happened: Have invaders
dominated the Chinese? NO.. The con-
quered have absorbed their %conquerers.
All have become Chinese. The very
Jews who have come among us have
been absorbed by our race-a thing
which has never happened elsewhere
Even more extraordinary Is this
Chinese Boxers description of the ideals
Of his c%ountrymen. We are won't to
look upon the conservative life of the
Middle Kingdom as the natural result of
an inert disposition: but our Boxer
makes It a state of the mind as the re-
suit of philosophy and experience. Hear
hint
There was a time when We had, like You
our struggle for life" our race for wealth,
our ambition for power, our haste and hurry
and worry. We too had your clever inven-
ions-gunpowder, printing and the rest-hut
we have lived long enough to find out how
essentially unnecessary all these things arc.
We have also had our periods of DOUBT,
fauQticisln and ascension in matters OF re
ipion. We have had our martyrs, our re
formations, our non-conformists, our in
tolerance ana finally, our liberation. Yes,
thousands of years ago. But we have ont.
crown it all. From the experience of past
centuries we have learned wisdom; from the
mistakes II disasters of our ancestors We
have learned TINT none of the things for
which we strOvc were really worth striving
for. Our passions and ambitions have set
He'd down into a calm desire for happiness in
thi, world; our religion is reduced TO Il
philosophy of life which the test of the last
1000 wears has proved TO he absolutely sound.
We believe that the best thing to pursue in
tins life is happiness, and we teach our chill
dren that their happiness can only he secured
by the performance of duty, by the Obsel vance
of moral ana business obligations and by
surrounding ones self with circle of equally
happy friends and relatives,
The Boxer added: ''You may think
that we live lives of ignorance and
sQualor and idleness: but | assure you
that is not so. We are as well of as we
want to be, and no man can improve on
that" The Boxer resents the ideals of
the western world. He rejects Chris
tianity, that "infant of 1909 years" He
is disturbed at the invitation to build
railroads $50 that we may fly from place
to place at a speed which for us has
neither necessity nor charm" He is
offended at the western proposals to build
mills and factories, $50 as TO debase our
beautiful arts and crafts produce
tawdry tinery in place of the beautiful
textures and hues which we have evolved
after ages of experiment" He even
loses his temper when he hears the
Christian missionary teaching the Chinese
thar they will be damned if they do not
accept these strange doctrines. The
missionaries, he says, brighten our
children and the more weak-minded of
our older people and create all kinds of
discussions between families and IN
by the western world that China must
buy its goods and commodities whether
she will or no. He d%enounces this as
san impertinence-an outrage. His
countrymen are as well of as they want
to be. They wish to be left alone. The
foreigners will not keep away and there
fare this nation of 100, 000, 900 oriental
philosophers have concluded that the
only way to get rid of them is to too kill
them.-Rutland Herald.
ECONOMIC VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.
There is food for thought in the report
of the Maryland Geological Survey fol-
1899. In the first place we are told thai
the people of Maryland have expended,
during the last ten years, upon the so,
called construction and repair of theiI
own roads, the sum of no less than So,
100000. 1t seems that the greater par
of this money has been fritted away il
the attempt TO repair roads which have
bppn nOOrlV laid Out in the first Mace