El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-31
CONDITIONS IN
CHINA ARE
CHAOTIC
Manchus May Try to Re
gain Lost Prestige and
Power.
JAPANESE CONSULS
STIR UP TROUBLE

Pekin, China, Aug. 31.-NOt only be-
tween China proper and her Deepen
denotes, but also among the Chinese
provinces themselves. conditions which
threaten disintegration become more
and more serious as the leaders Of the
Republican movement fail TO reorEan-
iZe the government and delay in re-
establishing central authority. The
chaotic condition Of China is at pres
ent such as would cause widespread
dangers, international as well as do
favorably isolated from the rest of
the world and If the people were not
of an exceedingly peaceful tempera-
ment Their conflicts are primarily
struggles with money and not with
arms.
Fighting Was Feeble.
In the late revolution there were no
battles in which more than a few thou
sand men were engaged and the fight
ing was generally Of a feeble char
acter. Bartering usually took the place
of fighting and some of the surrenders
of imperialist commanders were the
result of monetary payments, while
their loyalty might have been retained
had the Manchus been able or willing
to provide a greater number Of silver
taels.
The same means today. it is gen
orally believed, would save China from
her officials, who. with very few eX-
ceptionS, are men who at one time or
another also held office under the
Manchus. Among these officials those
who are honest suffer from the racial
failinE-lack Of moral coUra ge-and
fear to accept the six-nation's loan
with the requirement of foreign con-
troll, and the others are working up
the national opposition because they
desire no supervision over their system
of 'squeezes."
Japanese CcnsuIs Busy.
Meantime Japanese consuls in south
ern Manchuria and Russian consuls in
northern Manchuria and in the vast
territories beyond the Cobb desert may
impose their authority as they will, and
the Chinese officials in those border
countries can obtain but poor advice
and little support from the cabinet in
Pekin, whose attention is concentrated
on maintaining its precarious political
position.
In Thibet, to whose sacred city the
British have shown their ability TO pen
citrate with a few hundred men, many
of the Chinese garrisons have been de-
feated and driven out, even from Lhasa
itself, though the soldiers of the Lamas
are little more than an ill-armed
rabble.
The deep-rooted prejudice against
the foreigner and the fear of him seems
to be the greatest factor continuing to
hold together the provinces of China
proper, which are jealous of one an
other and sectiOnally unfriendly. The
national government, being afraid to
contract a foreign loan and afraid to
impose taxes or even in some provinces
to collect those instituted by the Man
chus, is unable to purchase authority
beyond the walls of the capital. Such
order as exists is maintained locally
and is due chiefly to the peacefulness
of the people.
But there is. apparently. no organ
lied party with secessions or a counter
revolution in mind; nor is there any
foreign pressure on the nation except
in the so-called dependencies, over
which the Chinese have held but nom
inal control for many years. COndi-
lions in these dependencies affect only
a few idealists and not the great I'M
cnrr1rrn handinc- l.-InhSa masses