New-York tribune., 1912-01-21

may achieve hereafter
It is largely a book of congratulations,
but of generalizations that are not hasty
and superficial. An enormous amount
of close observation and patient investi-
CATION. Of correlation Of masses of de-
tails lies at it's base. The author be-
gins bysdeclaring that the Chinese mind
does not differ essentially from our own;
he denies the familiar conclusion, arrived
at by earlier students, that between the
two there lies a chasm that cannot be
penetrated to its depths. On the con-
trary he maintains that, given the same
point Of departure, Western civilization
would have evolved practically in the
same direction and with the same re-
suits as that of China. DR.. Ross be
lieves firmly in the paramount shaping
powers Of environment.
One Of the greatest Of these formative
influences in China, he holds, has been
the ruthless deforestation Of the coun-
try:
In China the notion of an undistributed
public good distinct from private goods
has never established itself in the general
mind. The state has been tribute taker
rather than guardian of the general well
fare, so the community is sacrificed TO the
individual the public 10 the local group,
and posterity to the living. Along the
Wei River great quantities Of quick grow
ing trees are scattered amid the crops,
while the mountains miles away are de-
nuded. Instead Of growing their wood
and fuel on the rough land which is good
for nothing else. they grow it in their
fields, 10 the detriment of their crops, be-
cause in the absence of public adminis-
tration, the mountains are no-man's land
which all may ravage and abuse. The de-
struction of the remaining forests goes
on apace, for the officials are utterly in
different.
Waste, indeed, the lack of scientific
management against which the Western
world is organizing, has been the lead
ing feature Of the evolution of Chinese
civilization. DR.. Ross's pictures Of its
ravages are appalling. 1t has created
the Chinese standard of living at its
lowest, which. together with the narrow
margin that divides 1t from starvation.
has been described often enough, but
which in this book is presented anew in
an uncommonly succinct and clear way
from the economists point of view.
Under such conditions the Chinaman has
developed the fitness to survive that
makes him the terror Of white labor.
He is immune against unsanitary condl-
tions to which the white man succumbs,
he can subsist and work on a ration
that would kill our workingmen. The
problem of his competition resolves itself
into this, that under good conditions the
white man can beat him, while under bad
conditions he can best the white man,
because he can better endure spoiled
food, poor clothing. foul air. noise, heat.
dirt, discomfort and microbes. Reilly
can OutdO All San. but All San can under
lire Reilly" But All San is sure to lose
this peculiar toughness of fibre with the
introduction Of modern sanitation
Meanwhile. there he is, willing and able
to undersell Reilly in his own markets.
The Chinese mind DR.. Ross ascribes to
the isolation Of the civilization in which
1t has evolved. Fundamentally, how
ever, he compares 1t with the Anglo
saxon's. 1t is stable. he says. unswerv-
ing, influenced not by promptings. but
by decisions. "The patent stagnation OF
the collective Chinese mind is due not
10 native sluggishness. but to proposes
sion by certain beliefs" Chinese con-
servatism is not chiefly a matter of
dread of the unknown. of horror of the
new and fanatical attachment to an age
old system Of ideas. 1t is the logical
outcome OF an .nfiexibIe environment:
For centuries the Chinese have found
themselves In the situation our descend
ants VIII perhaps nnd themselves IN when,
folded in the colossal body of a single