The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-14
/ The Globe 5 s ss~s.!'4ay
The Storm Center of The 1)orld.
BY DR.. r. WARREN coNANT

is a relic of early barbariSm, which pre-
sents striking illustration of the prog
ress which Europe has made during the
Christian era. The Chinese occupy al
most exactly the same position in regard
to lnfanticide as the ancient Greeks and
romans. who not only practiced it, but
many of whose highest philosophers JUS
titled it.
Although no figures can be given. it
cannot be doubted that thousands of
children die yearly by their parents
hanos, fhe excuse made is poverty, and
it is true that this crime is most preya- {
lent among the abjectly poor This ex- I
plains also the fact that the slaughtered \
innocents are always girls as being less
able to support themselves or to contrib
ute to the support of their parents They
justify themselves frequently by sayingI
that they desire to save their girls fromj
life of slavery or infamy.
Almost equally impossible is it to give
any exact statistics in regard to the sec4
ond great sin of China, the opium habit,
but the responsibility must be shared by
the English nation, which forced the i'm
per1al government against it's will to
open It's ports to the Importation of the
deadly drug. The amount of that impor-
tation can only be guessed, but it must
be over 100000 pounds annually.
The effects of opium are worse than any
VI tlt JULIET WHICH men put INTO
their mouths to steal their wits away,
with the possible exception of hasheesh.
Temperate smokers confine themselves to
dozen pipes day, a pipe" meaning
a piece of opium not larger than a pea.
But temperate or Incorporate, the ef-
fects are the same and sure to follow.
The smoker grows stupid. forgetful,
weak, sallow and without appetite This
goes on, getting worse and worse; the
0y-tr with
gone feeling in the stomach, and there
is thirst and burning in the throat as of
Dives in hell. The suffering becomes in
tolerable, and there is but one way of re-
lief-another pipe. Then for brief time
the victim is snatched from hell i3to
heaven, only to be plunged back again
deeper than before Sooner or later the
man becomes a frightful wreck, physic-
ally, mentally, morally until death mer-
cifully closes the scene.
Another great vice of the Chinaman
is gambling; he is the most inveterate
tempter of fortune on the face of the
earth. Having staked and lost his iast
cash. he will then stake his wife or chill
dren. A missionary tells of one who
Sambled his wife away on wager equal
to $3.50. Chinese women are not. as q
rule, extremely desirable, according to
our idea, but this was certainly an I'M
justifiable sacrifice.
The Chinese are past masters in lying
and every kind of shamming. When John
is accused of anything his first move
is always to assert his innocence vocifer-
ously; and his object is not solely to
clear his skirts 1t is a kind of pro-
fessional pride with him never to plead
guilty under any circumstances, not even
if he is caught red-handed. To do so
would be disgraceful to the last degree.
for it would be considered evidence that
he was deficient in the Chinamans most
highly priced accomplishment, the art of
Saving his face"
John seems to have no nerves His
mental and moral stolidity is matched by
a physical insusceptibility which enables
him to undergo surgical operations with
out anaeStheticS and with an Indifference
which amazes foreign surgeons. So with
hunger, thirst and strained postures. He
will squat by the hour without moving
muscle in a position which would make
a white man at first frantic and then
paralyzed.
Indifferent to his own condition he is
equally unmoved by that of others. In
genuity is exhausted in devising every
conceivable torture for criminals enc
miles, and the cruel punishment of the ac-
cused or convicted persons is a common
and public spectacle exciting but languid
interest. Whole communities are swept
away by flood pestilence, starvation or
war without exciting a particle of SYM
pathy.
The only persons toward whom John
seems to feel anything like what we call
affection or devotion are his parents.
Their wishes are law to him, not only so
long as they live, but after they are dead.
In flight before an invading army he VIII
abandon his child or wife to destruction
in order to carry off his aged parent.
The graves of parents must receive every
care besides the burning of great guam
titles of paper money and the offerings of
food and drink. 1t is estimated that
100000 are spent annually in China for
the purchase of this imitation paper
money to be burned at the grave.
All this seems like very beautiful fo.-
lowing of the fifth commandment, if John
had ever heard it. Tt may be a graceless
act to destroy this pious illusion, but the
cold fact is that John cares no more for
his parents than for his other relatives;
he simply fears them. The superstition
is bred in his very bone and blood that
his parents spirits come back after
death and blast his whole life, if they so
choose.
1t is perhaps hardly strange all things
considered, that suicide is very common
among the Chinese, and for the most
trivial reasons. Their life certainly seems
to us far from attractive. But their GUS
tom OF I1arl-har1 Is quite unique. 1t Is
resorted to for one of two reasons; either
as an act of vengeance on an enemy or
because of royal command. In the latter
case the command is delicately conveyed
by means of a hint. II a high official
receives by the hand of a royal mes
senger little box, which he finds on
opening it to contain a nice little silk
cord, he understands perfectly that it
means: Please go hang yourself-whicl
he Immediately does. Could anyth ling be
neater?
After saying so many mean things
about John, it is only fair to close with
a tribute to his many good qualities.
Nowhere in the world can be found great
er patience, perseverance, industry and
economy than in China. Notwithstanding
the wretchedness of most of their lives,
nearly every one of the common people
is a Chinese Mark Tapley, cheerfully
making the most of their scanty pleas
ures and patiently enduring all privations.
Copyright, 1900