The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-23
PROGRESS IN CHINA.
Western Enterprise Stirring in the East-Rapid Growth of Modern
 Democratic Ideas.

6CAAoSA0b4S 4ACa6s
 Shanghai Correspondence of London
 Times.
 It is difficult for Europeans to form any permanently satisfactorily opinion fin re- gard to the attitude of Young China" Cor the reform party) toward the estab- lished form of government It's influence on current events and the real sentiments of the rulers of the country toward the would-be reformers. So many compli- cated factors are met with in considering these questions, so rapid and frequent are the changes of opinion and policy on both sides, that definite conclusions are rarely justified. Most foreigners in China regard the reform party merely as some what ludicrous and politically insigni- ficant manifestation of the eternal strife between the Have Nots' and the "Haves;" they see its typical representa- tive in the somewhat unprepossessing product of missionary educational estab- lishments, filling humble clerkships in their service pending the regeneration Of the Celestial Empire. and they scorn the suggestion that any good thing can come from such material.
 Nevertheless there is more in Young China than the Babu clerk and the mis- sionary school student, and even these possess and exercise throughout the coun- try lnHuence WHICH IS BeItTdlly uIdppie- ciated by those who see in them office drudges and nothing more; for which reason certain recent manifestations of the existence of the reform party and of it's patriotic sentiments have come as a surprise to many. I allude particularly to the public meetings lately organized and held by natives at Shanghai to dis cuss the position of affairs in the Kuang provinces and in Manchuria. That the Chinese, of their own initiative, should convene public meetings to discuss politi- cal questions is an indication of trend of thought which marks a new depart ure That 1t Is unwelcome to the powers that be has since been shown in the action taken by the Government at Pe- king. which has ordered the arrest of several prominent Chinese concerned, and by the efforts made in the official native organ to disparage the value of | the opinions expressed.
 The Progressive Party.
 One of the chief difficulties in cons.d- ering the anatomy of the progressive | party in China Is to decide where 1t be- | gins and where it ends. The dividing line between an ordinary mandarian of the | conservative school and the reformer Is often almost imperceptible-their views appear to be frequently interchangeable, | and there is nothing remarkable in the | spectacle of the progressive of today fig uring as the reactionary of tomorrow, and vice versa It is by no means unusual | moreover. for the highest officials, with
 whom the existing order of things Is sup | posed to be sacred, to send their sons | and daughters to become leaders of the | "Young China" movement in America and | Japan. Of this instances might be multi l piled indefinitely l need only refer to the | recent case of the suite of Sir Chen-tung | Liang, K. C. M. G., Minister to Wash
 ington, which included not only sons of
 the Viceroy Chang Chihtung and Cove IT, | or Tuan-fang, but a nephew of the noto- rious enunch, Ii. all of whom are now students, at their own expense, in the | United States.
 Chang Chih-tung's attitude toward tho
 reform party has been peculiarly difficult | to define. Before the coup d'etat of 1S9' be was a strong supporter of the progress
 sive press of Shanghai, and gave orders that the journal then edited by Liar Chitsao. (1ow refugee in Japan0 should | be subscribed for by all the yamens of | Human. His essay on education 0S9S) ic | all for tolerance and the adoption of new ideas After the flight of Rang Yu-wei | however, he appeared to modify. or, al | least. ceased to insist upon. many of the l views ton. Doubtless. in his case, as in that of many prominent officials, the storm and stress of that period, which witnessed the execution of the principal reformers at
 Pekin. the practical deposition of the Elm
 neror. and the complete triumph of the
 reactionary party, were sufficient to in- duce A cautious retcence that subsequent
 events have done nothing to modify The
 future biographer of such men as Chang
 Chi TunR and Yuan Shih Kai will. have
 no easy task in recording definitely their
 attitude toward reform; probably the best
 definition would be a series of compro-
 misses made with good intentions, be-
 tween hopelessly irreconcilable interests
 Their instincts are, however. undoubted-
 Iv nroeressive and it remains a fact of
 good augurv for China that men known
 to be honestly opposed to the conservative
 nolIcv of the Manchus. men like Chang Chi Tung. Sir Chen Tung. Liang and
 Tsen. the present viceroy at Canton. can,
 and do. rise to positions of great influence.
 Reform Education.
 The immediate prospects, of reformed
 education at Picking and in the prov
 inces are not cheerful. Universities. col