Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-24
CONDITION OF THE CHINESE
POVERTY AND IGNORANCE OF THE
COMMON PEOPLE.
Safety Of q Nation Depends Upon En-.
liGhtenment Of the
Masses.
From the Shanghai Mercury.

WI q Ccfldlu OHilt0 Dtdtco oSioe"i
objected to an appointment made by Presi-
dent Lincoln, saying that the man chosen
was "such a common man." Lincoln is said
to have replied: Il think the Lord likes
common men: He made so many of them.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the
commoners form the great mass of every
nation, and Mencius has we'll said that
1.-The common people are the root of the
state" The condition of a country. the de-
gree of it's civilization and tina value OF its
institutions are all to be judged by the con-
dition of the masses of the people by
their material welfare, their education and
their moral culture we must measure the
progress of the nation. When Minister WI
and others point to the antiquity of Chi
nese civilization and the great teachers
which 1t has produced in the past as cyl
dences of the enlightened condition of the
Chinese race they may captivate their
hearers. but their reasoning Is specious ana
Misleading.
Greece could show many Of the arts OF
civilization centuries before the Christian
era. and could point with pride to the IN
tellectual attainments of her philosophers
and the skill of her artists, yet the masses
of the people in ancient Greece were igncr-
ant slaves advanced but little beyond the
stage of barbarism in their manner OF life
or their moral sentiments. And Greece ana
Grecian civilization persisted before the ad-
vance Of Rome with it's stronger political
organization.
Poor People of the Land.
To Judge properl- the social and indus
trial condition of the Chinese today, there
fore, we must look at the character and
condition Of her peasantry and her arti-
sans, who form the great mass of her peo-
pie If a chain is no stronger than Its
weakest link what shall we say Of one in
which the greater part is constructed of
sd ha1
only here and there one that is substantial
and shapely? Such is Chinese society.
It is true that China as a nation passed
the boundary between barbarism and civ
ilization many centuries ago, yet her gov
ernments have always been weak and read
lily overturned and her territory easily de-
spoiled by the conqueror. because the bene-
tits of her civilization have been confined
to the few. Her chief strength has been
derived from two sources-the absence of
any barriers to the rise of able men from
the midst of the masses to a share in her
literary and political honors and the mod1-
cum of Industrial and commercial freedom
wrested from her rulers by the organiza-
tons of her artisans and merchants. These
favorable features have done much TO pre-
serve the loyalty of tie Chinese people In
the past to any de facto government that
may have been able TO seize the throne,
even though that government may have
been very corrupt one. but they have
never been sufficient to prevent the repeat
ed conquest of the government by Mongol
and Manchu tribesmen, or it's defeat by
mere handfuls of western men from over
the seas. There is so little patriotism in
China for the very good reason that the
government does SO little for the people to
awaken in their breasts any loyal affection.
Pntriarchal Constitution.
The people retain much of their primitive
organization. The patriarchal constitut ton
of clan and the existence of the village
head men and elders preserve in the hands
OF the people much authority over their
property. and considerable control of local
affairs. By the assistance of these insti-
tutlons and the power of combination in
their industrial and commercial guilds they
have compelled the government to WELD
them certain privileges and have tenac-
iously resisted every attempt to curtail
them when once obtained. But circum-
stances have never been such as to enable
them to extOrt from their rulers such
precious liberties as were obtained by the
free cities of Germany in the thirteenth
century or the boroughs of England i'm
their long contest with the crown So long
as these privileges are respected, however
they will endure much misgovernment
though not without protest. The possession
of property is one of the strongest in
centives to loyalty to any existing order
But when we consider the condition of the
vast majority of the Chinese people we see
that even this restraint upon rebellion is
wanting, for the amount of property per
capita is so small that the effect of its
possession upon the action of the masses in
times of political disturbance is practi-
cally insignificant.
Here We touch upon the chief source Of
China's weakness, the poverty of the
masses, or the unequal distribution of her
wealth There have not been wanting in
any age or country those who have preach
ed the benefits of poverty and the wicked
ness of wealth But poverty of itself is no
blessing. 1t may have been blessing to
this that individual that he was born
poor, provided the means of improving his
condition have not been taken away His
poverty may prove such a stimulus as will
lead to the development of a strong char
acter, but this strength of character comes
only with the pursuit and successful at
tainment of better circumstances