The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-12
THE PRICE OF EXPANSION.
A story From China Which Proves
That "War Is He'll"

Two letters recently received by a gen.
tieman in Savannah from a friend with
the American Army in China, give some
interesting information concerning the
state of affairs in that country.
Speaking of the army, the writer says;
"Of course I expected more fighting than
what was really done, but what was done
was good, and some of it severe, yet I
was in hopes Of seeing more than what l
did, personally Yet ahead of US on the
Peiho some really good lighting must
have been done, for l counted over three
hundred bodies floating down the river
one day while I was on the river with
some Chinese junks taking up some gov
eminent property.
THESE bodies, of course, mostly were
Cinnamon, but occasionally some Of
other nationalities would come drifting
along, 10 be drawn ashore by a herd of
hungry dogs, with which the country is
invested by millions, and there eaten up
by them, resulting in many numerous
dog fights. as this or that dog would try
to run off with a dismembered arm or
leg. And this water is used by the ma
tives for drinking water. and by others
as well, but as a rule, it generally re-
oeives course of boiling.
AS far as fighting is considered, most
OF ii IS done. that is of course, between
nations-for the time being-but murders
are constant among these drunken hordes
enriched by the enormous amount of loot
Nightly we near shots ringing through
the air, and very often these shots, al
though fired at night, find their aim, for
no one here wastes ammunition. The only
thing one knows of what has happened
IS loud splash shortly afterwards, and
some distance down the river a lot OF
dogs fighting over another body.
But man gets used to almost any
thing; for when l first came to China as
soon as a shot was fired, l turned over in
my blankets and listened for more noise,
but have gotten so used to it 1 pay no
more attention to it than to a ROSTERS
growing
The Russians here are the biggest
brutes of the whole ot;they would sooner
kill "Chink' than take a bite TO eat .
they treat their laborers shamefully, and
abuse them with clubs, whips, or any
thing that comes to hand, with a pleas
ure that is plainly visible on their con-
| temptible conferences.
But just think Of the different nation.
| alities here. Here is the man from the
| land of the Kaiser drinking with the
| Turcos that he fought thirty years ago
and of whose hatred for each other we
| read daily in the papers; yet, here they
| walk arm IN arm as soon as they have
tasted some of the terrible native whis-
| Ky, the Russians and the Sikhs: the Sc
| poys, the East India man, the Australia
| contingent, the man from blooming "Old
! England" and, last, but not the sober
| est, the man from the States. He is
| well represented wherever there is sa-
| loon, and he makes night hideous with
| his drunken songs, learnt at cheap song
| halls prior 90 coming here.
But at 8 o'clock p. m. the patrol cap
lures all on the street; the men from the
! Volga. Danube, Rhine. Thames, Yang
| tse-Kiang, Nile, and Missouri; all fare
| alike"
In another part of this letter speaking
Of the trip 10 Pekin. he says: THAT the
| Chinaman hates to see anyone coming TO
| his village is natural, for / have seen
| some of the allied troops enter a village
/ take everything that they could carry
and then burn the remainder while the
poor Chinaman was present. These poor
| devils without a house over their heads
without moutbful of food, without 2,
stick of wood TO burn, without a pound
of seed for their next years crop will
| band together this winter to keep from
| starving, what else can they do? They
must live and to live they must have
something TO eat.
Il have seen women and children out
ragged while I stood by; once when tried
| TO interfere | had at least a dozen bay
onets pointed at me and was driven out
OF the village. And I am sorry to say
that the biggest scoundrels are not only
| the russians and ZuaVes, there are 9TH
! ers. But l cannot say anything because
| it has to be covered over with a lot of
whitewash. and it requires several coats
| Of the same.
You would not believe 1t possible that
human beings could become so degraded,
lower than the meanest animal, only an
eye witness can tell the tale: but the
mans life that would make these deeds
| public would not be worth a cent, either
here or in the states"