The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-05
Ts LOsrNf, TNrt tTENcm

C0NFUCIUs IS LOSING INFLUENCE The Chinese lawgiver, whose pre- cepts have controlled China many long centuries, had hundreds of pages of his code devoted to the education of | boys; but as for the girls, he dis
 missed them with a few lines, saying Let thine be taught obedience, char
 fty and industry" This was well enough so far as 1t went. but his pro-
 phetic soul never could have revealed
 to him the state of things presented | In the following report of Mr. William E. Curtis:
 Washington, Nov. At is the opin-
 ion of many people in China that the | remarkable changes that has recently 1 taken place in the character and the | policy of the empress dowager is due
 to Mrs. Edwin H. Conger, wife of the United States minister, and the gos- sips tell strange stories of the manner in which that good lady has &C., quired her influence and exercised 1t. Mrs. Conger is 8 Christian Scientist, and very jealous In good works. I was told in China that for two years she has been trying to convert the empress to that faith, and that, with the assistance of her sister and niece from Iowa, she has succeeded in do- ing so. I do not know that this is true. Mrs. Conger and the members of her family will not discuss the sub. ject for obvious reasons. which, in a measure, corroborates the story. Ev- erybody in China knows that Mrs. Conger is a fequent visitor at the im- perial palace, and that she is always welcome. She calls there two or three times a week, and remains two or three hours at a time, and is singu- hn g.kl @f ln visits. Whenever the ladies of the d. plematic corps at Peking visit the palace, as they sometimes do, the em- press never fails to show partiality and affection for the wife of the Amer tcan minister. Mrs. Conger. bears this distinction modestly and gracefully, and takes no advantage of the prefer ence which is always shown for her.
 9&@
 These facts are well known to ev- erybody in Picking. and have been the subject of continual comment there; hence. 1t Is natural that the change in the disposition and policy of her inn perial majesty should be attributed to Mrs. Conger's influence. It Is admitted that advancing age has mellowed the soul of the old lady, and softened her heart. ands made her more susceptible. She will be seventy years old in No vember. It is also said that the death of Jung Lu. and other vicious old re- actionaries has released her from the domination of the conservative ele- ment at court and enabled the liberal and progressive faction to bring hur around to their view of duty. Un- doubtedly both of these theories are more or less true. It is probable that the revolution has been brought about by combination of the forces named and also by realization on her part that China must yield to the inevitable and adopt foreign methods.
 The change has certainly been very great The old lady has absolutely re- versed herself in her treatment of foreigners and of her subjects who have advocated the adoption of for eign methods. Twenty-nine men were beheaded or banished a few years ago by her orders for advocating the very policy she has recently adopted, and the edicts of the emperor regarding education and the examination in mod ern sciences of candidates for offices, which were revoked by her In 1898, have been reissued by her command. One year from the first of next Janu- arv a new order of things goes into effect, much more radical than any proposed by the young emperor. All candidates for offfce or promotion in office must submit to examinations in what they call foreign learning" in- stead of Chinese classics. Hitherto, if candidate was we'll grounded in the moral philosophy of Confucius. and the maxims of the other ancient sages. he has been considered competent to hold any position, civil, naval or military. and to exercise any authority. A knowledge of navigation on the part of a sailor has been considered of sec- ondary importance. and for centuries examinations of "expectants" for all branches of the imperial. provincial and municipal service have been con- fined to the classics. In 1898 the em- peror, under the influence of Rank