The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-05-07
CHINESE MINISTER
GUEST OF HONOR
BISHOP BASHFORD or METH
ODIST CHURCH CHIEF
SPEAKER OF OCCASION.
TRIBUTE TO CHINA
Where He Has Had Charge OF Mis-
sionary Work-7eople Have
High Standards-All
rf For Progress.

NEW iptht may u w iio5 ''FtS
minister from China, was the chic
guest at a dinner tonight at whicl
the Lotus club entertained severa
other prominent men. Among then
were General Frederick Dent Grant
OF the United States army, an'
President G. Schurmann of Cornell
University. Another SPEAKER wa
Bishop Bashford, vino spoke in pal
as follows:
Bishop j. w, Basnford cf thu
Methodist Missions IN China, spok
as follows:
The first proof or the new intellec
tual life of China is found in the revo
luton in education. There is only on'
aristocracy in China and that is no
an aristocracy OF wealth or of birth
but of education. Under Chimes cu7
toms. usually only persons can be ap
pointed to office who hold degree
won in the great examinations Whicl
the Chinese government conducts Il
test the educational qualifications o
her subjects. With very few eXceF
tions all young men can offer them
selves for those examinations, an
those who succeed m winning tn
degrees become the Intellectual an
official aristocracy of the nation.
In 1893 the Dewaget Empress Il
sued decree declaring that at tn
close of ten years, no person Woui'
be put upon the list of eligibles 70
office whose degree did not specif
that he had mastered the wester
learning. Many persons regarde
this decree by the Dowager Empires
as spectacular, inasmuch as on 1t fac
lit was not to go into effect for tel
years, and few people believed tina
1t would ever go into effect. But y
1905 a supplementary decree was +
sued. putting the reform into In
mediate effect. These two decree
do not prescribe that every future eff
cial must have the western learning
for there are not sufficient me
trained in the new learning to fu
nish officials, hence, all who now hol
degrees received rnder the old regim
are eligible to appointment. But a
future degrees must certify to tn
holders efficiency in the wester
learning, in order to make hill
eligible to official appointment
This reform which is now in tu
progress, revolutionizes the intelle'
tual training which has prevai'e
among four hundred million peopI
for twenty-five hundred years
promises to become the creates
single change which has taken plac
in the intellectual history of the cour
try.
Political Progress.
Turning to political progress, Tien
sin. the metropolis OF north Chin
with a population of a million and
quarter, on July ), 1907, held the fir'
municipal election ever known in tn
history of the Chinese empire. Yua
Shih Kai. the an of power in Chin
today, holds that the Chinese frol
their centuries of village governme'
and of guild government are far MOI
ready for republican institutions. an
| indeed. are far more democratic
spirit than the western world dream
Hence, he is urging the Chinese go
eminent to adopt a constitution.
| order to prove that constitution
| government is practicable. he has {
tablished municipal government
the northern metropolis of the el
pire. Note the requirements for VIC
ing in the first city in China ev
holding a municipal election: Ea,
voter must be a male citizen twent
FIVE years of age. porn in Tientsin,
he must have lived in Tientsin f
FIVE years any pay tax on two tho
sand taels: all voters must be al
| to read aud write. These fo
| classes are debarred the fra1chis
All who have ever failed in busines
all who are now engaged in any d
reputable business, like selling opiu
etc; all who are opium smoker
Brddhists and Taoist priests.
Hiuh Standards.
Passing through Tientsin last ia
saw lecture hall in which perha
a thousand listeners could stand. a
was told that a half dozen such ha
had lust been opened I'm the city
which illustrated lectures on weste
geography. western science. weste
invention, etc are delivered two
three times week to audienc
which fill tho halls to overflowing.
Tientsin persists in demanding Il
Thigh standard of morality aud inte
| gence in her voters. possibly fl
years hence American citizens v
> be sending delegations TO China
learn the success of municipal &C
ernment.
United For Progress.
| was present in Pekin that n