The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-18

oliy as IT all seems to us, the fact must
never be lost sight Of that these heathens
nave Chelr own standards Of what IL
right and proper Of which thew ara
tenacious to the last degree and bv which
they Judge US. Unfortunately If II tha
easiest thing in the world +o insult
Chlnanan grossly and yet be perfectly
polite, according to our standards ana
this alone is sufficient to account Tor
the contempt and dislike which they
feel for u.s. When to this have been
added years of ill-treatment it is possible
to understand the perfectly fendish
hatred for foreigners which they manifest
When once the floodgates Of their re-
pressed feelings are opened
All this must be taken into account in
any forecast of the future The next
point to be considered is the futurity OF
the Caucasian in arming and drilling the
very people he has insulted and injured
10 sell the Chinese the best moIeln
weapons and to teach them how 70 make
and use them, is as sublimely idiotic IL Il
would be to hand a man loaded rovolv-
er, ana then proceed to kick and cuff him.
can anyone doubt what the yellow tilan
VIII 90 as soon as he feels it safe to act
out his real feelings? The Boxer rising
IS but a hint Of what is coming.
But II may be urged that India has
peen held IN subsection by her own sons,
hers. Also that the English with their
usual military sagacity, nave already be-
gun TO apply to the Chinese the same
system which they have found 50 success
ful elsewhere. For more than six months
their officers have been drilling at West
Hal Wei, the first battalion, first regi-
ment, Chinese infantry, comprising $50
men. Their success mas been remarkable
BY hard drilling they have transformed
stupid, awkward coolies into soldiers as
good as the British III promptness. ac-
curacy ana obedience. In craftsmanship
and steadiness under fire they have been
tried ana not found wanting. And all this
at the ridiculous cost OF S. monthly per
man for pay and provisions.
But CHINA can scarcely be Judged by
India. Leaving out of account the terri
BILE SepOy risings of 1856 and 1857 ana the
continued mutterinSs Of Hindu disc0n-
tent even at this day the CeIestials IRE
a very different race to deal with. o
equal pride and fanaticsm with the Hin
du they add greater force mentally, NOR
ally and physically, besides practically
ana adapJiVeness to which he is ain l-tH.
stranger Furthermore, Objectionable III
is the government and civilization Of
China IN many respects it is far sulerior
to the bloody tyranny Of the OLD rajdhs
whose fierce rivalries rendered national
unity impossible China can never be
conquered as India was
Another poInt-the Chinese are not 50
stupid as ehey look Partly because Of
their habitual passivfty of expression.
partly because they are 50 childish III
many things, we have formed a con
te1nptuous opinion of their mental ab,I-
tiles which facts do not justify. Some
time ago 120 Chinese boys, of the ave
Tage age Of 1ine years, were sent to the
United States by their government 20
be educated. As they were all sons of
middla-cIass people. they had no special
advantages Of birth or breeding. yet their
progress was wonderful. In addition 10
the mental labor required of American
boys, they were obliged TO become famiI-
lar with one Of the most difficult lam
Gua9es in the world, 10 revolutiOniZe their
own habits of thought and to master ali
the thousand little -intricacies of daily
lite in an alien land. In spite of all this.
far from home and friends, every one Of
half Of every class. All through the pri-
mary and high school courses, the col
lege and technical school, their behavior
and studiousn ess We're perfect
At another time three boys and two
girls took the examinations for admis-
sion to one of our largest colleges None
of them had had any preparation OUT
side of a mission school in China, vet
among hundreds of candidates for adj
mission the boys took the highest rank
in Latin, the girls in mathematics.
were picked scholars. Then take the
case of a beggar girl, rescued from a
Chinese gutter, who received first hon
ors- in one Of our best colleges for wo-
men, or Of a destitute boy, sent here by
missionaries for education, who took first
prize for English composition at Yale.
But this is sufic ient to prove that once
the Chinaman shakes off the fetters of
superstition and conservatism-he Will
give us a close race in every department.
Already in persistence, frugality, self
control and capacity for work he pos
Sesses great superiority. In another dec
ade and a half China will have nothing
to learn from She will be making
her own machinery, arms and amnuni-
ton from her own mines with her own
hands. She will have railroads steam
erS, a powerful and skilled navy and an
army of half a million men drilled and
armed to equal any in the World. What
then? She win drive her teachers and
prosecutors into the sea and repay the
debt with uSury.
VIII the Chinese go farther and attack
the world? The Chinese will not for
they are peaceable by nature but the
China, and theirs is a very different
blood, the Mongol Tartar blood Though
now sadly degenerate, they come from a
race OF world conquerOTs. the names of
Jengis Khan, Oktai and KubIai Khan in
the thirteenth century, and Of Tamerlane
Asia, and even Europe trembled. From
the fifth to the seventeenth century Asia
was the breeding place whence issued
swarms of Huns. Magyars, Turks and
Mongol1ans to overrun Europe. Jengis
Nhan and Oktai, his son, conquered and
ruled an empire from the Pacific to Po-
land, and from India to Siberia
what II IN twenty years from now
a twentieth century Oktai should sit on
the throne in Pekin with an effective
army arm OF a million men obedient to his
nod, an lron-clad fleet to carry them
worthwhile, and all the most complete
modern engInery of deStructionI Would
not history more than repeat itself?
Copyright, 1902