The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-24

country a child successof.
 But the climax of ms wickedness appeared to have been reacnea when'
 ;, Isas he actually attempted to min ,be importance of the Chinese
 ns hv compelling State officials to
 ,.o,,, something more Of science than
 .,,hat ;s contained in the tonnes of Con-
 s..sa,,s Perhaps 1t will illustrate the
 an.,,stism of the Chinse official ,aind if mention that on the occasion of tba visit to the Jesuit mission of zika-wei was shown the drill regu- Iations of the Chinese army a work more than 1000 years old
 The little lady Blsmark IS Tn her way
 . raformer--so she says. But she
 h.ge you to bear in mind that she has
 to accomplish the reformation not
 nsaraIy of her sisters and cousins about the nalace. but some 300.000.0o0 of Chinamen. who regard innovation and iriouity as interchangeable terms.
 WbiIe in China in 1878 I had a pret- tv nicture of Chinese conservatism as interwoyen with dislike of the for eisner. In that year was laid a rail- way connecting Shanghai with the mouth, of the Wusung River. dis tance of some eighteen miles. This railway was of immense importance to the trading community. for many ships anchored at Wusung and light cred there, and it was of obvious ne- cessity to have rapid and frequent Icommuhication. between the anchorage and the town. Under a variety of pre- texts. however, the railway was sup pressed, bought up by the government
 This was done ostensibly to allay public clamor--to propitiate the dead who could not rest while the surface of the earth was profaned by the of foreign deyilS.
 But the Chinaman Is not half so careful of his gods and names as some would have us think. for in the next year. 1877, Li-Hung Chang found no difficulty In giving to Chinese company a concession tor @ railway which opened up some mines in which he was interested. This railway was l subsequently, expanded into the pres ent system connecting Picking with the sea. We may reasonably, conclude that the Chinese objected to the rail- way at Shanghai, not so much be- cause 1t disturbed the repose of Chi nese spirits. as that this repose was heinz disturbed under European aus- pices. The religious element found no fault with a railway when controlled by Chinamen-and since that railway | has proved of commercial value and l was not followed by calamity we may TeaSOHapIy lOOk tO tHc udf WHcNt we shall buy-a ticket direct from Cam ton to Picking. and thence across the great wall to Europe. The railway that was destroyed and shipped to | Formosa in 1878 was reopened for 1 traffic in 1S9S-and this time no one heard anything about offended spirits. The little Bismark lady was right she wanted railways, but she wanted
 the public mind prepared for them, | that there might not be riots connec- l ted with their construction.
 The little lady Is now sixty-seven years old. and naturally disposed to | repose. She may have many more years to live, for, measured by the
 standard of Queen Victoria and Bis
 marck and old Emperor William. she | is but at tho beginning of her career 1 At the age of sixteen. in the year | 1851. she became the concubine of ar
 emperor, and as such an influence in the ruling of his empire. Since that ! day has happened almost every great | event that has profoundly modified
 the position of China toward the out side world. She has lived to see ports like Hongkong and Shanghai develop l from insignificant trading stations to | commercial centres. rivaling London
 and New York. Shanghai. which ev-
 en in 1876 was purely trading com | munity, is today city Of factory
 chimneys conspicuous from afar.
 l MediaevaIism to Modernity.
 l In HnnRkonR today there are ship yards where iron steamers are being
 continually launched The little i'm.
 perial lady has seen her country peo'
 pie not only learn manufacturing
 trades from Europeans in China, bu
 she has seen them erect factories oi
 their own and run them in competi. | tion with the Europeans.
 This transformation could not have
 been made had she opposed 1t with | the vigor of which we know her cap able. To be sure. the portion of Chi na affected by modern ways js not very great. but still the modern ways are | there. We have sent them a sample
 and they seem pleased with 1t. Much of this transformation has occurred | between the occasion of my two wis | it's, and if we limit ourselves to mere. | ly that which has happened between l 1878 and 1898 we have a change all
 most az extraordinary as that which came over Europe through the use | of steam for transportation at the be. | ginning of the nineteenth century. China advances slowly. It has been
 advancing for some ten thousand
 years. and 1t has yet far to go. China has much to learn from Western ma
 tions, but Western nations have also
 much to learn from an empire that
 has seen the birtb. bloom and burial | of many a white mans nation.