The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-22
Chinese Merchants Swear Al
Iegiance TO Mikado'
TO ESCAPE PENALTIES
When Returning to China They
Are Taxed.

made Japanese subjects, and forty-eight
more have made application for such en-
rollment 1t may be taken for granted by
this sign that they are prospecting in busi-
ness and that they have accumulated too
much properly to want to. or dart to, re-
turn to China to end their days.
by this STEP becoming japanese sub
5ects, the Chinese gain many advantages
In leasing buying and transferring prop
erty; and amenable only 10 japanese
laws and taxation, are safe from the as
sessments, the 'squeezes' and terrorizing
of their Chinese diplomatic and consular
officials. AS japanese subjects, however,
they are liable to military service, their
0ors to the regular Consumption, and one
will wait to see how the timid tailor ond
the long fiuger-nailed man of accounts
will accredit himself for a few years in
barracks.
s..The Vermilion edict OF the emperor
Kangshi prohibiting the emigration OF
Chinese subjects and demanding that all
those abroad should return and be be-
headed was in force from 17lS to 1899. In
the early years no indemnity was de-
manded when the Dutch in Batavia and
the Spanish In Manila massacred the Chi
ed them right for deserving the graves of
the ancestors; that unfilial ones who
neglected the annual rites at their ances-
tors graves deserved even worse fate
The Chinese who went abroad. accumu
lated money and returned to China, usu-
ally repented. 1t became safer TO stay
IN any land flowing with milk and honey,
which they had once found, for which
reason there are Chinese families in Ba-
tavia and Singapore that have been there
Tor generations. At Singapore they have
q great burial island for their community
and there are some family graveyards
there already populous and Of long re-
sort
AT the time Of the Franco Chinese war
OF 1884 the leading ship chandler and coal
jaealer in Singapore had a contract for
supplying coal TO French naval ships that
had years more to- run. and it was some
time after hostiliues begun that the Chi
inese consul descended on him and or
dered him to coal no more. penalty
clause and great losses faced him if he
broke his contract with the French, and
as direct damages if he disobeyed his con-
sui All the Chinese in Singapore, near
IL, are from Swallow, and the consufs
convincing threat was that if there was
not immediate compliance the taotai OF
Swatow would he asked to destroy the
ancestral graves of tho family and i'm
prison oil the relatives left there. The
coal contract was sublet at a great loss
60 "a British firm. which saw its oppor-
tunity TO charge carte blanche.
Tbe>-edict prohibiting emigration of
Chinese beyond the seas was officially an
nulled in 1903 and in connection with 1t
Che Chinese minister in London directly
asked leading Chinese merchants why
they did not so back to China at the
end of their lives why they only returned
for brief visits after they had become
naturalized subjects of other powers.
Without mincing matters or sparing the
ministers feelings, they answered blunt
1y:
I'VE fear the so-cailed inquiries of
tle mandarins. the oppression of their
underlings, and the extortion of our
clansmer and neighbors. When we re-
turn to China we are falsely accused
as robbers and pirates. spies of bar
barians, buyers and abductors OF lab
orers when we are said to deliver as
slaves to foreign dealers in human flesh.
Many, on their road home. are robbed of
their savings of many years: others have
their houses demolished and are pro-
hibited from building new houses, and
others again are compelled, by means of
forged documents. TO pay alleged debts
NJ their ancestors. Alone and unpro-
tected, therefore. and considered as
strangers by our relations. to whom shall
we apply for help in a country in which
NE are on all sides surrounded by
thieves"
|, There was droll but pathetic appeal
made by the Chinese prisoners brought
TO Sasebo and other japanese military
prisons from the first battles in Corea
in 1894. When war was over and it be-
came time to release and send back
these prisoners, the Chinese government /
was quite Indifferent about claiming them
and had no great interest in receiving /.
them back. The prisoners. however, had T
decided views on the subject. They did I
no; want to go back TO China at all. i
"You have been good and kind to US
said their spokesman. 'You have given /
US warm clothes and good food and you
do not beat and abuse rs. We would like /
to stay here and work for You. And /
now, please. YOU have been 50 kind To US
always, will you please get our pay for I
Ms from our officers? We had not had .
any pay for four months when you
brought us in your nice. clean ships to
this big workshop"
Hardly did cur happy. well fed. hall 4
playing Spanish prisoners of 1895 equal !
that for naive praise of the enemy
Their are some 7.ooo Chinese resident
IN Japanese treaty ports. over 2.0oo in this
Port OF Yokohama, all gathered in one
quarter OF the city together. their hous
ing much after the home fashion-in two
and three-story tenements with outer gal
leries and staircases They are peaceful
and iaw-aeiding as a body but criminals
and lawbreakers who do take refuge here
are tanned at once. They have the same
respect for the policemen as have the ,
japanese. quail ard cover in the presence
e the little sworded man in uniform. ana
kowtow nicely when the policeman takes
cut his terrible notebook and pencil The
Eeformers and political refugees who come
here make 40 parade OF themselves and
eve the authorities no trouble. They
turn penny or live on admirers coutri-
buttons peaceably and write philippines for
the reform newspapers of Shanghai
IL is something to make Confucius and
eli the ancestors turn IN their graves
could it he known in the world OF spirits
chat Chinese students are also docking 10
Japan. reversing the order OF Sung and
Ming times; the oldest Of the nations sit
ding ar the feet OF the Youngest learning
lfcm those she once taught
Besides the thousands Of Chinese resi-
Aenfs in treaty ports. more children arc
Being edura;ed here in schools maintained