Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-10
THE FUTURE OF CHINA
COL. HEISTAND SCOUTS IDEA
OF YELLOW PERIL.
AN ADDRESS TO OFFICERS
Says Empire Was Saved by Mckinley
and Hay.
WARM PRAISE FOR OUR TROOPS
Army Man Thinks United States Has
Less to Fear From Coolies Than
From Agitators.
AN ADDRESS TO OFFICERS
WARM PRAISE FOR OUR TROOPS

NEW YORK, January 1O.-Kit Fue Shan,
Chinese consul at this port wearing the
plain clothes Of occidental civilization ana
with a half enraptured expression on his
face. listened for more than half an hour
yesterday afternoon to a panegyric OF his
people by Col. II. o. s. Heistand, who was
chief of stafr and adjutant general of the
American expedition to China to assist In
suppressng the Boxer uprising in 1900. Col
Hestaud spoke in the meeting room of the
Officers Club on Governors Island before
an audience of distinguished military men,
active and retired members of the Military
Service Institution.
He said his experience in China was not
limited to his years official duty during
the American occupation, and that he had
made a careful study of the people. He
praised the American soldiers in China
and said that their conduct made him
proud of his country. They were popular
with the soldiers of other natonalities.
and one of the chief reasons, apparently,
was that they received about four times
as much pay as the foreign men In the
ranks.
If IL had not been for the cupidity of
other nations Japan herself might have &C
complished all that the soldiers of the eight
nationalities had finally done.
Saved by John Hay.
China might have been parttioned be-
tween the powers If it had not been for
the craftsmanship of President Mckinley
and Secretary of State John Hay. For
the services of America on this occasion
China had shown herself supremacy CRATE
full The relations, diplomatic and com
merCial had been very cordial after the
war. II was pity that the good will that
had come to America had been sacrificed
by our unfortunate exclusion laws.
Col. Heistand said he regretted that a
minority of the citizens of the United
States, who had obtained their citizenship
chiefly by naturalization. had been enabled
to undo the work accomplished through
the military occupation. He referred to the
Chinese exclusion act, which he called
commercial blunder. He said lie had no
wish to reflect on our n"tional egis -Ors,
but he hoped that they would amend the
Objectionable law which might deprive us
of gigantic commercial dealings in the
future with people that are going 10 be
among the greatest on the earth
He hoped that Chinese immigrants would
be treated Just as other immigrants were
treated. The undesirable should be ex-
Guided and the desirable admitted. All
discrimination under the immgra ton laws
should be removed. The educated gentle
men and honorable merchants of China
should receive the same treatment as the
same class of people from E1rope. Their
exclusion was not only wrong from a COM
mercial point of view. but WAS against the
doctrine Of peace on earth and good will to
men.
Chinese Labor.
I'VE have heard and read the lecturer
said "of Il good deal about Chinese labor
at nine cents an hour l can assure you tIiat
the Chiuaman is not more anxious TO work
for nine cents an hour than is the work
man OF any other nationality, including the
American. He learns the value of his la Dor
as readily as the best of them. All he wants
is fair show and he will take his chance
in competition with the world whether it is
digging the Panama canal shovelfuI at
time or playing the greatest game OF ma
tions with the ablest diplomats. Let him
dig the canal. and If he never does any
thing else he will have accomplished a lot
toward fulfilling God purpose in creating
and preserving him
we nave less to fear from the Chinese,
with or without exclusion laws. than we
have from irresponsible and Unprinciped
agitators among Us who endeavor to divide
the American people into classes, to in
spire and foster discomfort and vciousness
to arraign class against class, to strike q
blow at our material prosperity by arousing
prejudice against those whose energy and
ability have created and maintained It,"
Population of China.
Col. Heistand said he was inclined to dis
credit the belief that the Chinese empire
had a population of 100000 There were
no statistics on the subject and no surface
He had a poor opinion of some mission
aries. and said he doubted if any adult
Chinaman ever had been converted to
Christianity. Some of the missionaries had
been guilty of looting in the period OF occu-
patton. One had been caught in the act by
American sentry and shot in the arm
Later this missionary had exhibited his
wound with d show of pride and had de-
clared that he had received it at the Siege
of Picking.
The Chinese were more democratic than
was generally supposed The will of the
people was potent under what was merely
theoretical absolutism. There were some
features of Chinese civilization that might
be initiated in other countries. For in
stance, the Chinese family paid the doctor
only when all in the family were well The
moment any one became III the doctors
salary stopped, continuing when the pa
tent recovered. II a Chinese bank failed
the heads Of the president and directors
were cut of and then an investigation
was made and all the funds were divided
pro rata among the depostors Speedy
trial and stringent punishment, irrespective
OF the class Of the offender, would be a
good thing in America, too.