The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1911-12-01
The Awakening

this moment is of as great Importance
as iho revolution i'm China. II promises
10 De tho most significant event OF his
tory since our own Civil war.
The nation That has stood from time
anon as the symbol of staguation and
bacRwarlncss. now rushcs ahead so fast
that the leaders of today are back mum
hers tomorrowi while those whose names
were learned yesterday and added to
the list of great ones are forgotten to-
day.
Concessions proffcred by the imperial
government seemed to mark the high
water mark of surrender, but they We're
altogether insufficient to satisfy the on
rushing mass of awakened people, eager
for full status as a power of the west
ern order.
So far the "full speed ahead of the
rebels has been balanced by an unprc-
cedcnted restraint where foreigners were
concerned They seem to have them
selves under control though now that
the nervous tension is at a high pitch
that control viii be severely tested
A push and pull explains this
strange incident in the worlds history;
the push of civilization that has been
little understood and less appreciated
and the pull of an awakened human de
sire for representative government for
voice in the management of affairs.
Such awakened desires always have in
them a moral element. However strong
the desire may be for material improve
ment, there is stronger desire to do
away with the iniquities that viii al
ways prevail unless the voice of the PEG
pie is unrestrained in its expression.
Pitiless publicity must prevent the I'm
righteous things that can be done in the
dark. Without publicity they may 60
on indefinitely. Truly representative
government means publicity.
European nations are beginning to ask
for this publicity. They are wearied of
the Machiavellian statecraft that mars
their nations history and ties its hands
when iniquitous procedures deserve re
buke and restraint. A Shirt sleeves"
diplomacy in which the people have a
voice and a part is the common de.
mand of the hour The people distrust
the dark and secret Vaccinations of the
few that control affairs.
Europe is bound hand and foot by ira
ditions and precedents 1t tugs at its
bonds. A new element enters the po-
litical field and asks embarrassing ques-
lions of those who have ruled for cen
turtles. The British laborites, for in
stance, threaten to probe the iniquities
of British diplomacy and conquest.
But what are these bonds compared
with the bonds China is bursting like
lazy Samson stretching himself and
swapping the withes with which he is
shackled?
Admit that the revolutionists have Sc
cured control of their empire and that
the present regime is at an end, if you
will, and still this movement is only at
its beginning. The government is to be
recognized from stem to stern.
How will it be recognized? Nobody
knows nor dares to predict. The process
will be watched with great interest dur
ing coming months.
And maybe there will be two govern
ments to watch instead of one; repub-
lie and a constitutional monarchy, per
haps 1t is well within the range of
possibilities that the north and south
will break apart.
And maybe there will be more than
two. If so the field of interest will be
enlarged An empire-a raee-trying
out two or three different forms of gov
eminent simultaneously and all of them
radically different from the form they
have tossed aside so ruthlessly. Ye|
gods! What a spectaclel
The leaven of the west is working in
the east. Three thousand years of Ia
tent power awaited the> coming of the
yeast which now enlivens the whole
mass. Settling with life, the people
rush for the things the world now
recognizes as the necessities of life; for
education, for material progress in rail
roads, telegraphs, postoffices; for the
industrial and economic changes that
will mean improvement in social condi
tions,
They demand, too, an economic and
territorial independence. China for the
Chinese" and "the Chinese for China"
are the two slogans that sound familiar
to modern ears.
Salvage is the object of their desires.
Salvage from the wastes of graft and
spoliation; from the wastes Of economic
Encouragement; from the wastes that
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