Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-08-18
Uhe Dfnlofrat.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1909.
WHAT is GOING TO HAPPEN
WHEN CHINA WAKES UP?


China is waking up. There is no
mistake about that fact, nor the
further fact that the Christian ma
lions are Fastening the awakening,
by promoting and financiering theI
construction of railways and other
industries in every part of the Flow
cry Kingdom.
In doing this the Christian nations
are disregarding the oft repeated adj
vice of Napoleon Bonaparte. On every
occasion when the subject was con-
sidered by the Great Corsican he
would say, "China is great sleeping
giant, do not wake him, " or words of
similar meaning.
Among all occidental nations there
precise effect upon the history of
the world which the arousing of
China from its long lethargy will
bring about. To even the least re-
Elective, the Chinese empire is be-
coming a vast shapeless shadow pro-
jected over the future of civilization.
And this shadow is much more Wis
ible on our Pacific coast than 1t is
in the Mississippi Valley.
The Chinese are themselves the
heirs Of civilization which has en-
dured for 1000 years. Ours dates
from the capture of Constantinople
by the Turks in 1853 and the disper-
sion of the scholars who had congre-
gated there. The methods of modern
science, the peculiar intellectual
pride of our civilization, emerge in
dim outline about three hundred
years ago. While our conquest over
nature through the mechanical arts
began only little over century
ago.
We are evidently very young, very
young indeed China possessed lit
erature when our ancestors were
painted savages. And it is litera-
ture which in philosophy SURPRISES
Aristotle, and in ethical conceptions
is inferior to the literature of Chris
tianity alone.
The Chinese civilization was by no
means merely Intellectual or scholar
ly. The Chinese invented porcelain
still called chinaware; silk, our finest
material for dresses; the mariners
compass, water tight compartment:
in ships, high explosives and paper.
They built suspension bridges SOC
years before the first suspension
bridge was built in the west, and
cantilever bridges $50 years ago
HangChow has breakwater of hewr
stone As miles long which makes
most Western harbor works lool
like number of cents one-thirt
smaller. In two provinces alone
China has S5, 900 miles of canals {
larger number of miles than the rail
road mileage of New York and Penn
sylvania.
The Great Wall of China which
would reach from New York to Colo
RADIO is an engineering feat whicl
dwarfs the Panama canal to tn
level of children digging in the sam
by the sea shore.
And China has 4O0,000,0 900 Of pee
pie accustomed to obey the laws prt
mulgated by those in authority. In
agine the potency of such fore
when imbued with the aggressivenes
of Americans. The writer has re
Gently conversed on this subject wit
educated men who have spent man
years in the Orient, and they al
agree that China is turning ney
page in her history which will affec
the history of the world. And the
also say that the average Chinama
is a really commendable individua
who should not be judged by tn
few laborers, who have come t
this country largely from singl
province.
In natural resources, China ha
thirty millions of acres Of untouche
wheat land. She has rice field
which have been cropped continuous
ly for 1000 years without losing thei
fertility. She has also stores of coal
iron. petroleum and natural gas equa
or superior to those of the Mort
American continent.
What is meant by the waking VI
of China? 1t means the application
of our hundred years of development
in mechanical appliances through
steam and electricity, including, o
course, their adaptation in war b.
land and sea, to the internal affairs
and external relations of the Chimes
empire,
The startling rapidity with whicl
Japan discarded its shackles of isc
lation, and the things accomplish
by the Japanese, have given us