Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-05
a Peri, That Does Not imperiI.

/ and America. statesmen and writer's
with highly imaginative minds have
! been fond of discussing the potentiality
of the Chinese race. when they try to
| brighten the people with bogies which
they conjure up. They point out that
China has population of something
! like 1000, 600 people, or fully one
fourth of the human Inhabitants of the
earth. With such a population. they
say, she could put an army Of over 90
; fG0. 600 brave and warlike men into the
field, which under proper leadership
would be able to march all over the
earth and bring all nations under the
flag of the dragon. and the dominion
of Tsi Ann, or whoever might happen
to be reisning in Pekin.
This idea Of the yellow peril" which
has been held up before the world so
prominently for the past generation,
probably originated i'm the achievements
of the great English soldier known as
Chinese Gordon He took 4 small
army of Cinnamon. and with it whipped
large armies of other Cinnamon. be.
cause his force had modern arms and
modern leadership. while his Oppon-
ents had no weapons worthy the name,
and no leadership. Since his time, the
people of England in particular and
IN u
greater or less degree, have been dis
cusSing the time when China should
rise i'm her might and Overwhelm the
rest of the world.
Lord Woiseley, for example. wrote
much about the peril. Il can see. lie
said, no limit to the size of the army
| China could raise, and, according To
my estimate of the fighting qualities OF
her men. think it ought to be The
! finest army in the world. ! believe the-
| Chinese people possess all the mental
| and physical qualities required for
national greatness. They love the land
| of their birth: they believe in their own
! superiority and despsc all other races.
| They are fine men, endowed with great
| powers of endurance; industrious and
| thrifty. they have few wants and can
| live on little, and that little poor food.
! Absolutely Indifferent to death. they
are fearless and brave. and when we'll
| trained and well led will make first
class soldiers"
Now all this is the kind of stuff
which sends thrills of horrors up and
| Gown the backbone of the timid man.
| but how much of a basis is there for all
| this fear: Is it not more reasonable to
| Judge the future of China, by the story
| of its past centuries rather than by
| what it might accomplish, if this is
so. and if that We're so. and if
some other ,nings should happen, which
| there is not the slightest likelihood will
| happen? For thousand years the
Chinese race has been unable to protect
itself against the agsresSions of
| various powers, which have wanted Il
slice of its territory. or seen fit to
punish it. Although its people have
IS part of their religious belief a
| superstitious love for the soil of China,
they are wholly without that sentiment
| which we call patriotism. They meet
death stolidly because they are
| fatalists. but they Go not go into battle
through the beliefs, principles and emo
tons, which drive ordinary men to
| fight for their country.
| If China has this potentiality. which
those who talk about the yellow
peril" fancy, why didn't she rise in
| her might Il few years ago, when 4
| little band OF foreigners marched
| through her territory into her capital
| and frightened her rulers into hiding
| and imposed almost every condition
under which China now possesses the
| right of national existence:
| Those who talk OF the yellow peril
AZ" merely deceived by the facts of
| enormous number: and it is in this very
| fact of It's great population that lies
| china's weakness as a war power. So
| thickly is China planted with human
| beings that it has no strength to
| sustain armies or navies. The problem
for centuries has been to feed the
people and keep body and soul together.
!. Her whole civilization is based upon
the contingencies of this primary and
| r;.ctical problem. If China should put
an army of !. 600 go men into the field.
not Ia mention the army of -, 600. 600
| which has been spoken Of it would
destroy the Industrial and protective
| equilibrium of that empire, so that
! everything would be upset.
In India there are almost the same
conditions that prevail in China. If its
potentiali;y is TO be measured by mere
numbers it is next to China as Il world
mower, but India does not cut any
more of figure than China. and is no.
regarded by any nation as a menace.