The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-22
Provisional Government Must Soon
End. but the Lesson Taught
Cannot BE Lost.
AN INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
AMERICANS FIGURE AMONG n
REST IN ADMINISTRATION.
Unless Chinese Continue Improve
ments Traffic Is Likely TO Drift
10 other Ports.

Correspondence Of the indianapolis Journal.
TIEN-TSIN. May l0.-Possibly as good
Illustration Of native temper toward for
eigners may be found here as anywhere in
China. a wish TO control their own affairs
is. of course. perfectly ineligible on the
part of the Chinese. but if there is any
place in the empire, hardly excepting
Peking. in which doubt fingers as to the
wisdom Of restoring old conditions Of gov
eminent. or where expediency would seem
tc dictate TO the native mind a policy OF
conciliation. this is the place; for here the
mask was thrown off two years ago and
the outbreak was fiercest and most de-
termined AS the seat of provincial power,
superseding the appointed capital. as TIE
chief commercial city of the north, and as
the center of anti-foreign fermentation. for
eign hold here has been most tenacious.
All the allies, except the Americans. have
troops on this ground in such numbers as
TO preserve appearances not unlike those in
the months following close upon the bonn
bardment. and the evacuation by the Chi
nese forces. Foreign control, indeed, covers
visibly both native and settlement districts.
differing thereby from the mere martial su-
premacy of the summer of 1900 in that II
has turned the city into paths Of progress
and good order. and has bettered il not
only i'm its physical aspect. but as a pro-
Queer of revenue for the imperial treasury.
But the Chinese covet il and make no Sc
cret of their displeasure over its continu-
ance under foreign administration. The
provisional government of the foreigners
has proved too much for native liking. II
has applied funds too largely to public ac-
count, giving TO the authorities at Picking,
whatever their present foreign sentiment.
a lesson unexampled in the productive ca
pacity of the place for the general ex-
chequer, and furnishing in that respect. at
least, a pattern enIightening as to the past
as well as to the future and making pri-
vate official gain at public cost more glar-
ing than under any other circumstances il
could have become. Viewed from the
standpoint of revenue. OF sanitation. Of or
der, of coamerciaI Importance, Tee
has never been so we'll governed. As a
factor in native politics. as a raIIying
ground for racial conspiracy. and as a mine
for the enrichment for favored pockets. II
has fallen out of the reckoning. Hence the
modern viceroy. Yuan Shi XII. establishes
the official yamen at Paoting-Fu, from
which he declines 10 emerge, and the
satellites whom he keeps there. i'm
obedience TO direct orders, do little more
than maintain lodgings, and barely conceal
their impotence that the foreigners take
so Ions to hand back the city to it's rightful
rulers.
TO REVERT TO CHINESE.
AS the provisional government probably
will go out of existence shortly, and the
native portion of the city will revert TO
Chinese administration a review may be
instructive, to point out generally what
forcfu, v,I, -. - "
administration of the last two years has
differed essentially from that which the
Chinese maintained. There is no need OF
assurance that the city to be handed back
is vastly different from that which was
taken over. untowsrd as have been the
conditions for anything like the improve
ment of which the place is capable. II
it were TO remain in foreign hands for
another two years, IL is not too much to
assume that it would pass out of the recog-
milton Of chose who knew il in it's Chinese
days. Since foreigners. with their eyes
open, can detect no difference between one
Chinese city and another. it may be doubt
ed if natives. looking at pictures or taken
blindfolded on a tour OF inspection. could
distinguish between them ordinarily: for
a city consists of a wall inclosing low.
dingy. nondescript houses. on narrow. ill.,
smelling streets; and that description ap-
plies almost uniformly throughout every
part Of China which foreigners have seen.
Its twelve miles Of wall have come down
and the most careless observer would now
set Tien-Tsin apart from the rest. In place
of the wall there is a road around the
city sixty feet wide. Even the natives.
hard-pressed as they are for room. avoid
contiguity to the wall, whose natural ac-
- II - - T.
time augmented by the filth OF the common
dump. This, too, has been removed. and
the air. free for the first time 10 sweep
through the streets, reaches them without
contamination. Where the return fire OF
the foreign guns destroyed houses. work
Of late has looked to an increase Of air
space rather than 10 building -construc-
ton. and II has been possible I'm certain
quarters to lay out streets anew. Of re-
spectacle width. In a place whose popula-
ton is estimated at something more than
100000. and which was always utterly
needless OF sanitary law. il is not prac-
ticaDle 10 approximate the extent of dis
case. No one denies that I'm former years
Tien-Tsin maintained the native average
in this respect. When the biting cold that
comes early and goes late here drives the
human kind into fetld novels. cause and
effect naturally work along nonresisting
lines. But since the foreigners took charge.
the streets have been kept reasonably clear
Of filth, and the continuous tonic OF fresh
air administered 10 them has so far dis
sipated disease germs. and while other ma
tive cities suffered last winter from scarlet
fever. smallpox and other e~pidemics. there
was no widespread sickness in Tien-Tsin.
Conditions here invited such Affections more
than in places undisturbed. for in spite Of
recent extraordinary demand for labor. the
troubles Of two years ago had acute results
here, I'm the devastation OF dwellings. In
the ruin Of native enterprise. and I'm general
privation and poverty. II disease were
to gain foothold and cause havoc among
the multitude. this was the most auspi-
cious time for IL. It's failure 10 do so may
be credited 10 the care and Judgment Of
foreign government supervision. As else
where in the north. the breakup OF hap
hazard bands. who had gone armed int
the outbreak. the creation Of a lawiess els-
ment made homeless and hungry b ~