Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-15
Are the Worlds Peril, Says a Long
Resident There.
WONDERFULLY RECUPERATIVE RACE
Not Only the Cities but the Farm
ing Lands DenseIy Peop|ed.
OLD ORDER IS CHANGING
Written for The Evening Star

| of the great American cities with their
| teeming tenements give but faint idea Of
Chinas swarming communities. The very
| farming districts are as overcrowded as our
| great American cities. 1t is this vast and
| ever increasing population which constitutes
the main danger to the civilized nations Of
| a war which should involve the whole Chi
| nese people. The mere force Of numbers of
those millions uncounted and UNREASONABLE
with any degree of accuracy, would wear
down a vast army. An admiral Of the
American ravy, who has travelled in China.
put the case tersely a few weeks ago when
he said that all the armies of the world
might be kept busy for twenty years killing
Cinnamon and there would still be enough
left to be a serious menace to mankind,
should the survivors unite in war.
Statistics in China are the merest guess
work, but it is highly probable that all
given estimates fall short of, rather than
| exceed. the conditions. Mr.. Archibald Lit
tie, the traveller, gave, in a recent lecture in
Shanghai, an idea OF the conditions in the
province Of Szechuan at the present time.
SZechuan is an inland province, about 600
by 400 miles In extent, made uo of noun
tain ranges, most unfavorable locality
for farming, nevertheless the populace sup
ports itself mainly by the raising of tiny
crops on minute plots of land. Mr. Little
said that in travelling through 1t in any d.
rection it was impossible for days at time
to find a vacant spot large enough to pitch
small tent upon. Frequently, he said,
the Chinese farmer would climb flight of
5000 stone steps to piece of land no more
than ten or twelve feet sQuare-and this
economy Of space went on to the very top
most point Of all the mountains. While
Mr.. Little was travelling through Szechuan,
a boy of nine or ten years fell in one day
with his travelling party and plodded sturd-
lily along all day, keeping up bravely with
the retinue, taking dust, heat and hill climb
ing as patiently as the grown men. He was
n ko1 for lot, 4l~t
food or money. AT night Mr.. Little, who
speaks the language, asked him where he
was going. to which he replied, ITO Su
Low, to carry COAL"
But" said Mr.. Little you cannot carry
coal, you are too young"
Oh said the little man, Il can carry
fifteen baskets in a day. for which 1 will
be paid II cash about tx cents)'
Have you eaten today?" inquired Mr.
Little.
NO." said the brave little fellow, but
I'm not hungry
AS there was still about thirty miles of
hard hill road to be gotten over before
reaching Su Low one can conceive some
thing of the moral courage of that child.
Looking to Posterity.
Amid unutterable poverty, disorder and
confusion of confusions, despite overpopu-
lation, pestilence and famine the China
man increases and multiplies unnterrupt-
eddy. This Is In part due to the universal
desire for children, progeny who shall hand
down the name and family blood through
long generations. All the miseries of exist
ence have no terrors for the Chinaman so
long as he is raising children to worship
at the ancestral tornbs. His individuality
he counts as naught il he only NAV turn to
his family and with pathetic devotion die
within the charmed circle. Ask him how
long he has lived in certain locality and
he will answer 800 or 1000 years, meaning
that for that length of time his family has
perpetuated itself and left the records of
Its tombs there.
From time to time the Chinese have paid
the penalty Of their conditions of life, and
Nature. auditing her accounts with a red
pencil, has revenged herself with decimat-
Ing plague and famine. But the recuper-
ative ability of the race. after such loss of
life, is without parallel. Chinese annals
with every evidence of authenticity, state
that after the black plague of the four
teenth century had swept away it's millions
the birth rate showed an increase that was
almost incredible The birth of triplets
throughout China was of common occur
| renee, and infant mortality decreased to
very small percentage.
They Love Their Children.
Love for his children is the dominant
emotion in the Chinamans heart Pa
tient under abuse ridicule and ill-treat-
ment of himself, he will endure no harm
to his children. Lay hand upon them
and you see him descending wild eyed in
multitudes from his mud novels, every
man with a heart full of sorrow and saw
agery, bent on your destruction. 1t is by
appeal to this feeling that the secret society
men or CHINA are now arOusing widespread
sentiment against all foreigners. Under
their teachings millions of the coolie class
are coming to believe that all foreigners
are kidnapers and that the eyes of Chinese
children are used for making medicine.
There is a story being scattered broadcast
at this moment to the effect that the rail-
| roads lay the foundation of their bridges in
children's bones That belief is at the
root of much of the antagonism to the
building OF railroads. All over the country
the Chinese are guarding their wells lest
tne foreigners put poison In them. Less
than 900 years ago our ancestors held pre-
clsely the same superstitions as do the
Chinese today. During the fourteenth CEN
fury they prosecuted and burned alive
thousands of Jews for the supposed poison
ing or wells, and during the great mortal
ny caused by the bubonic plague in 144S
u44S-146O) the Jews were considered as
having brought the fearful mortality upon
the Christians. and in Mayence alone IL 900
Jews were burned alive by the Infatuated
people. 1t was reported all over Europe
| that the Jews received poison from remote
places, which they prepared with spiders,
Owls and snakes. In order to destroy the
children of the Christians.
Have Stood Still.
In superstition and prejudices the China
| man Is today where the European was five
centuries back. Owing to the severity Of
the purely animal struggle for existence,
| his instinct Of isolation and his unpenetra-
BILE egotism. the oriental has stood still,
while the rest of the world has advanced
Under favorable conditions he should
have been ahead Of US, and this must be
taken into account In reckoning with him
as a foe, for the seeds Of a higher order
OF civilization latent IN China They
have blossomed once land may again bios
som. The Chinamans physical character
lstlcs, too, are sucht as to make him for
midable. From the physical point of view
he seems the fittest of alhIraces to survive
adverse conditions. -Well-built, possessed
| OF marvellous endurance, with an unequaled
hardships. thriving amidst conditions of life
that would wipe outlmost races, he is of
the material Of those wh9 conquer by the
| very power OF persistence4 That he will
| ever amalgamate with other peoples is
| highly improbable Admitting that We all
sprang from an anthropofd race, there still
must nave been some characteristics pecu-
liar to the stock from which the man with
the almond eye came. The persistency
with which he turns his face to the east
and invokes the spirit OF his ancestors his
unwili1ngness to associate with other men,
his Recommendations his highly re-
| lfgious and superstitious nature, are waver-
Ing shadows of some far off origin, too long
| hidden away from US to find out.
A. tn EirH&fuU AhfISfv