The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-05-07
CHINA THE INJURED PARTY.

NEW YORK. May 4-The last mail
from China, says a Washington special
10 the Tribune. has brought to the state
department new proofs OF the terrible
and perhaps irretrfevable conditions
which exist under the foreign military
rule in north China. involving a situa-
ton not hitherto fully realized even in
Washington and utterly unappreciated
in the United States generally The
character OF the information which ras
now come into the administrator pos
session is summarized in the following
extracts from a communication written
the service abroad and mailed from Pc
kin month ago.
The question Of raising the indem-
nifty. though one OF the most serious Of
the Chinese government. is not para
mount. All the people who are likely to
know declare that the Chinese peasant
can stand no greater burden Of taxation
than In the past. so the question re-
solves Itself largely to reducing the ex-
pense OF collection, which in China in
wolves radical reforms Another propo5
sitloa for nesting the indemnity is to
grant lucrative mining and Industrial
concessions to foreigners. but that
means bartering their independence and
laying up endless trouble for the Chi
nese. who are quick to recognize the
feet.
"'Tf the whole horror Of the murder
and pillage done between Tien Tsin and
Pekin comes to be understood in the
United States and in Europe, the sum
Of 1t IS so great as compared to the
number OF Christians who have suf
fered at the hands OF the Chi
nese. that rightly or wrongly the
Chinese are likely to be held the in
iured party. Lancers wantonly i'm
pallng little children by the wayside in
the streets Of Pekln are some of the least
Of the well-authenticated horrors, and to
some soldiers a dead Chinese Christian
is just ls satisfactory an evidence Of no
quarter as a dead Boxer-they neither
know or care for such trifling distinc-
tlons.
THE allies, even II they could agree,
could not set up an administrative ma
chinery Of their own for the empire.
They must restore the power to some
native party and the quicker they do
II the better for China. The Chinese es-
innate that one million Of their people
have lost their lives by violent deaths
or starvation about Pekin and Tien Tsin
since the allies came Well-informed
foreigners long resident here do not re-
gard the estimate as exaggerated"
The North China News of March IS,
endeavoring to tell why such situation
as the one alleged can exist, says:
simply because Chinese civil author
ity has been suppressed, harred. driven
away and nothing substituted for it.
The country between the sea and Pekin
has been devastated and the people have
been killed unfortunately or driven
out of their homes to become bandits.
We should have thought that one of
the first acts of the foreign admins
tration after Pekin was relieved would
have been to strengthen the Chinese
civil authority and make it responsible
for the preservation Of order. But
what magistrate can be expected to
remain at his post and exert himself to
put down opposition to foreigners when
ar any moment a foreign lieutenant
with a handful of troops may come to
him and demand a sum OF money on
pain of having his town or village burn
ed down In case of refusal?"