The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-03-23
do CHINA EMPEROR
ABDICATE? WILL, HARDLY,
HIS FACE WOULDN'T HIM
He Has Made IL Clear He Turned
Over Government Because
He Chose To
STILL EMPEROR IN NAME
Only Difference Now Is That He
Has Merely Ceased
To Emp"
STILL EMPEROR IN NAME
BY HARRY @. FARMER.

SHANGHAI, China, March 23.-
Suppose you pull up In front of your
hotel In Shanghai In ricshaw and
hand the ricshaw coolie 20 cents Mex.
II the coolie thinks he should have
had or can extort more he does not
argue. He doesn't know enough
English. He bursts into cataract OF
abuse, which quickly draws crowd.
A few minutes conversation reveals
taat the coolie Is clamoring for a total
OF 40 cents Mex. You care nothing
about an extra 20 cents Mex, which
is only 10 cents United States. But
you do not propose TO admit, by ac-
ceQing TO his demands, that you have
tried 10 skin that coolie out or hair
OF his fare.
In other words, you are resolved, as
the Chinese express IL, 10 have your
face" No, the Chinese are by no
means the only people on earth who
are particular about their faces"
You want TO end the row. however,
so you offer TO give the coolie an
other cents Mex. The coolie can
not accept. To do so would be TO ad-
init that he had tried TO overcharge
you and he would lose face" He is
~,
way. Suppose you make II SO cents
Mex.
mo, you will not do this. You will
not be imposed on by any coone N
China.
Just then Chinese by-stander
politely intervenes. He speaks pretty
fair pidging English. You are extreme
Nv glad to shift the responsibility. You
4 co.
come and he exchanges few words
with the coolie.
Finally he says: "Oh, pay him 80
cents"
He SAYS IL in a tone which conveys
to you that of course you are being
cyercharged, but what do you care
about beggarly little 5 cents Mex:
and to the coolie that IL goes with
out saying he is not getting enough,
but the value Of the time he'll lose
In dragging you to q police station
viii be considerably more than the
difference involved in the dispute.
So you pay the coolie another III
cents Mex, your face has Deen
saved, - the coolies face" has been
saved and everybody goes his way
satisfied.
You can hardly get into financial
dispute in China that some kindly out
slider won't break in with suggestion
OF some compromise calculated to
save" faces" Face is recognized
in China as valuable asset. A
Chinese will lose everything down to
his shirt and bear up under 1t, provid-
ed he has saved his face"
That Is why the emperor OF China
n
decided, merely because he felt like
ii. to withdraw from politics forever.
The entire decree by which the old
regime turns China's government over
to the new one does not say one word
about abdication- emperor had
discovered, as the decree expresses II
In effect, that disorders prevailed In
the country which the premier SEEM
ed unable to sooth.
I'm order to adapt the government
TO exigencies," the decree continues,
at Is necessary TO effect slight
changes. The name OF premier Is
hereby abolished and a president Is
created. All political power shall be
vested In the president, who Is TO be
elected by the people. With the ex,
ception OF this change in political
HOWeT, the hdyCbey Vi NhS
shall not be much different from
heretofore"
Thus the emperor saved his face"
He did not abdicate at all. He re.
mains emperor. He merely turned
over all OF his imperial power to the
people-He did shis only because he
chose. Nobody told him that there
was trouble in China. He noticed II
himself. He told his premier to set
lie II and his premier tried and failed.
It wasn't the emperor's fault. 1t was
the premier's. SO the emperor was
rcgretfully compelled TO dismiss his
premier. He was beginning to doubt
whether the premiership system was
much good, anyway. On the WHOLE,
he believed he'd appoint a president
instead. Or, no-on second thought
he would let the people elect one.
On, yes, the emperor Is still an
emperor. But for the sole reason that
he feels like 1t, he has merely ceased
to emp.