The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-08

Copyright, 1909, by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Mukden, Manehuria, 1909.
 find Manchuria rapidly awakening to the new civilization. This coun- try has long been considered the most barbarous part of the Chinese empire. The home of the Manchus, 1t has been held as synonymous with brigandage and corruption. Until recently neither life nor property was safe, and today there are guerrillas who swoop down from the mountains to levy taxes on travellers in transit and to blaclSmail the villages. The whistle of the trains on their way from Siberia to the Yellow sea has sounded the death knell of the old civilization, and the hordes of Rus sians and Japanese, by whom the land has been overrun during the last few years, have aided in nursing the new into life. Manchuria has now some of the most progressive of the Chinese off, cals as it's rulers. and they are institut- ing all sorts of reforms. The larger cities have been cleaned. Mukden has streets free from filth. and all the way from here to Dalny the Japanese have been introducing western ways.
 Manchuria's New Schools.
 Here in Mukden the changes are being made by the Manchurian Chinese. This country is a part of the Chinese empire. and its officials are appointed from Pe- kin It contains three great provinces, each of which has a governor, and over the whole is a viceroy, who lives at Mukden. Most of the reforms have been largely due to the provincial govern or, His Excellency Tang Shao II, who was recently in the United States to re- turn thanks for the remission of the Boxer indemnity. This man was for a long time director of railways of North China, and as such was closely asso- ciated with Yuan Shih Kal, who until lately held the place of Ii Hung Chang in the councils of the empire. Under Tang common schools have been started, and the young Chinese mind is being trained along the lines of western meth ods. The boys are studying arithmetic and the modern sciences, and they have a military drill several times every week. A big industrial school has been estab- lished, and also the agricultural college of which I have written in previous let ter.
 I drove out into the country yesterday to look at the beginnings of a forestry department, which may some day clothe the bare, dry hills of southern Manchu- ria with trees, and from there to an ex- perimental farm, where modern agricul- ture is being taught.
 Mukden's industrial School
 Leaving the plantation, I visited the Industrial school. This has now 60 stu dents, who are learning manual train ing under Chinese who have been edu- cated abroad. It has large carpenter shops in which beautiful furniture is made, and that from the native woods. It is only the lower part of Manchuria which has no forests to speak of. Along the Sungarl river there are vast areas of walnuts, oaks and other hardwoods. Some of the best timber Is only 80 miles from the railroad, but the transportation Is so bad that Oregon pine can be brought across the Pacific and up here to Mulsden and sold at lower rates than the Manchurian lumber. At present there is a scheme to build railroad to connect the forest regions with the South Manchurian system, and when that Is done the Manchurian wood will be used all along that line from the Yellow sea to Siberia. Some of the finest of the native timber is walnut. It is the color of cher " and it's grain Is as close as that of birch In the industrial shops this wood
 
 stained 1t closely resembles mahogany.
 This school teaches all sorts of iron working. It has spinning and weaving departments, glass-blowing shops and all the up-to-dat appliances of the manual training schools of America. The stu dents are bright young fellows of from IA to IS years. They live in the school. sleeping in dormitories, five boys to the room. Each room has a kang or brick ledge about two feet high in it. This is heated by fues which run under the floor The boys study in their rooms during the day, when not in the class rooms,. and sleep there at night. As in all the new schools. the students have a special uniform and are subject to mill itary drill. They wear trousers, jackets and caps and their feet are shod with boots of black cloth.
 The Tartar Courts Reformed.
 A great reform is going on now in the Manchurian courts and as to all matters of law. A well organized police service has been established and there are now uniformed policemen on every block. These men wear padded black clothes of almost European cut. The long Manchu gown has been abolished and they have coats trousers and boots. Their pigtais are covered with caps and they carry clubs as big around as a broomstick and almost as long. The clubs are painted black to make them look like ebony, but in fact they are exceedingly light, and a good blow upon a hard skull would break them in pieces. The policemen still have strips of white cotton about four inches wide around their left arms, as a sign of their mourning for the late emperor. For months after his majesty's death they dared not shave their heads; and their black hair, except where the pigtail came forth, stood up like a shoe brush all over the scalp. Some of the po- lice carry swords
 The system of justice in the Manchurian courts is being reformed The torturing of prisoners to make them confess has been largely done away with, and slicing to death has been abolished. So far I have meet no criminals wearing the can gue, although this was a common sight during my several previous visits to China. About eight years ago I saw three women locked together in a frame work of boards three feet wide and six feet long, Their necks were fitted in holes, and the framework was such that it could be opened and closed. The wo- men could not feed themselves. and they could not move unless they all went to- gether.. At the same time l saw men un- dergoing similar punishment. They were loaded down with heavy blanks which rested upon their shoulders, their heads coming out through a hole in the center; some such cangues were further weighted