Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-02-08
AMERICAN soLolERs Alvlne IN A oAlNesE REaIaollsE

ls9S--a lesson of cleanliness. For
countless centuries almost the great
wall that surrounds Peliing has in
closed but little more than one vast
pest hole. True there was at one time
semblance of sewage system in
the city, but that time was SO long
ago that even in China, where it would
seem that but little is ever forgotten,
no one seems to have ever heard of
it, and it would probably have long
ago passed out of history but for a
few useless traces of it which still
remain-one of many evidences OF "a
decaying greatness.
When the army of the allied ma
tons took hold of the government of
Picking the sanitary problem was one
of the biggest undertakings on which
commanding officers had to figure 1t
was so vast that but few of the off
GERS thought it advisable to under
take it at all. OF these few Gen.
Chaifee and his subordinates were the
first TO move.
They found the streets used as re.
ceptaclcs for offal of every descrip-
ton the streets and sidewalks used
for the basest and commonest pur-
poses. Every rut and depression was
filled with slush and Stops that would
breed disease among any people but
the Chinese. The refuse from every
house, whether it be the dwelling.
place of IA noble or the hut of the
poor is carried into the street to of.
fend the refined sense of every pass.
er-by--if they have any, which but
few Chinese have. Ex-Minister DENLY
assures us that this was true even in
front of the home of Earl Ii Hung
Chang, who, of all Cinnamon, should
have known better.
EX-Minister DENLY in the chapter
which he has written for Rounse-
vile Wildman's entertaining volume
entitled "China's Open Door," pub
lished by the Lothrop company, Bos-
ton, says of the misuse of the streets
of Picking:
"At Picking everybody uses the space
in front of his store or dwelling as he
pleases. without the slightest regard to
the comfort OF the general public. Great
logs of wood are sawed on the streets
Booths are erected occupying half the
width of some of the streets Temporary
houses are put up for funerals. All kinds
of peddlers occupy every coign of van
tage. The barber plies his trade wher-
ever he Can find place to set down the
box he carries and on which his customer
sits. The tables of the tea shops take up
all The sidewalk. The streets are public
lattines. and the Stops are emptied into
Them The walls are besmeared with filthy
advertisements. Here and there localities
are used for spreading out and drying
manure. There was notable one OF these
places nearly behind the German legation
which poisoned the air for blocks around.
The German minister strongly attacked
this nuisance He received many prom
ises, but at last accounts the pile was
still there. The chief use of the space
outside of the city wall Is to dry manure.
When one complains of the horrid sights
which are perennially in view. one is told
1t is old Chinese custom. am afraid to
gay that Picking Is the dirtiest city in the
world. because there is Constantinople;
but my opinion is that Picking is the filthest
of the worlds Cities
Such was the condition of the city
when the allied troops took control.
That the disturbances which had
reigned there all through the sum
mer had not made it worse was due
to the fact that 1t could not BID made