The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-10-21
REcKIEssNEss OF LIFE,

cunning for the Mapchus without stint
and without mercy. They are passing
the word among themselves, why
should a Chinaman fight to maintain
the Manchus7" And in accordance with
their recklessness of life, which is a
| feature Of the Asiatic world. the
| Chinese leaders have issued decree
that wearing the queue will cost tue
wearer his head. The queue is badge
of servitude to the Manchus' IT was
| imposed upon the Cinnamon by tne
| Mauchu conouerors some 400 years agoi
and this badge of servitude is now re-
| pudiated so fiercely that it is danger
Gus for a Chinaman in the districts III
rebellion to be found wearing queue
The animosity of the Cinnamon to
wards the Manchus was fiercely ex'
emplified in Wu~Chang, as the DIS
patches tell us, where about 500 Man
chus were slaughtered by the rebels
| without distinction of age or sex. This
fierce hatred Of the Manchus being the
key note of the revolution, will un-
doubtedly embitter the war, and will
cause those engaged in the revolution
to fight to their last gasp, And, since
| life is held so cheap in China, the
slaughter will undoubtedly be even more
extensive than 1T would be IN an ordi-
| nary uprising, for this is racial up
rising, always more bloody than any
other.
There is printed iu Tien Tsin, China,
sort Of leaflet of news, which is de.
voted especially to the extirpation of
| the opium traffic. This news gives
a fresh illustration Of the proneness
to decapitation which exists in China,
and the Indifference with which the
killing of men is regarded as well as
the small cause that may inclte that
killing. A dispatch from Lanchow,
| Flu, in Kansu, tells about the rigor
of the authorities in suppressing the
cultivation of the poppy, for opium. The
| farmers who had been accustomed to
raise opium, and who got more profit
from that crop than from any other,
very naturally objected to the suppress
sion of opium culture; and a good dea!
of excitement prevailed among them,
so much so that little riot was pre-
cipitated; but as this news leaflet says,
"tbe attempt at uprising was nipped
in the bud, the leaders being caught
and summarily executed There ap-
pears to have been no compunction In
the minds of the opium reformers about
executing lot of farmers who wanted
to keep on raising their most profit
able crop. The main thing was the
suppression Of opium culture; and il
some farmers had TO be killed in order
to reduce others to subsection to the
decree that they must not raise opium,
the reform, and the suppression of
poppy culture. This is reform with
vigor and vengeance. 1t is reform
IN it's most primitive, ono might al
most say in its barbarous, stage; and
yet there can be no doubt of its eff.
fectiveness- The Chinese indifference
to life is e1emplified in this incident
IN its most startling form,
But there appears TO be no doubt
that the revolution in China is some.
thing OF real purpose; and that it has
good chance for success would ap.
pear probable. The attempt to unite
the Chinese as race against the Man.
chus, If successful, will of course,
be decisive. The main question is
whether that can be Done, Very much
depends upon the movement OF Yuan
Shih Kai, who is reported to be oil his
way to the scene Of disturbance with
ten thousand troops upon which he cap
depend. The battle at TIanxow, was
mt first reported Il drawn fight. later
rebel victory. But it is To he re.
menbered that news from China is
probably censored. and il is likely
{ enough that we shall not know the real
facts about the battle, or about any
other fighting that may occur I'm this
war. in the back provinces, for some
time TO come. But that il will he a
bloody contest, III which each side will
be absolutely reckless of fife. there
can be no donbt.
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