El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-04

breed such evil offspring as ueDased
women, murdered girl babies, high
death rate, poverty and famine Alb
ject reverence Of dead toreDeaTS anu
/ chain-lightning breeding Of descend
ants are responsible for China ills
( Whatever good there may De IN the
care the Chinese devote to old people
and the way they defy the dead IS
I made valueless by the evil results IN
I the train Of their customs.
China is a great land and the Chinese
are a great people but until ancestor
worship becomes sane and the bearing
I Of children becomes humane, emma
will not take its place in the worlds
affairs to which its inherent worth en-
titles it Less worship OF the dead and
more attention to the living should be
China's slogan. Until this is done the
countrys adoption Of a republican form
/ of government and other western Gus
toms viii be only Of relative value
Expect support From Children
. In the first place ancestor worship
/ in China is due to misguided self
interest rather than to piety. A emma
man bows humbly before the tablets OF
[ his forefathers and offers up tokens
before them on certain days IN order
that the gods may regard his goodness
He zealously brings children into the
world not so much out OF love for them
but because they will be duty bound
to support him in his old age Gong
a step further in his pure material
ism. he will murder his own girl babies
because they marry early. and in thus
| transferring their filial piety to an
other family are OF no use to him. 4
Chinaman's sons in his old age take
the place of an endowment policy and
a small block of government bonds
This plan Of providing haven against
old age is also more certain than the
western way. A Westerner may never
own a few bonds and might fail to
keep up his annual insurance pay
ments. But a Chinese Will always have
- - aD# Hn--n 81
least one son, he is expected to take
secondary WIFE in order to bring
about the desired result. The number
of "secOndaries" is limited only by the
mans purse, and the babies so begot
are considered legitimate Should even
these auxiliary spOuses fail to bring
forth the yearned for male support in
his old age the man adopts some or
phan. a boy, perhaps, whose entire
family had been wiped out by disease
or famine.
Girl Babies Killed In Towers.
In the meantime, the wife and concu-
bines may be bearing girl babies with
reckless rapidity. What becomes Of
them? The baby towers which are seen
in every part Of China or the muddy
streams can tell you. The baby tower
is a hole in the ground from which
rises a round tower Of mud-brick five
feet high. 1t is open at the top, with
a board across. The unWelcOnne female
infant is left on the board. Here il
e
Usually, however, another parent in
I tent on doing away with his daughter
comes along with his burden, and push
ing the first baby off the board, puts
I his own in its place and leaves 1t 10
receive like treatment from the next
murderer. By this procedure the Chi
nese cOddle themselves into believing
that they do not really kill their own
children. Many of these helpless girl
[ babies are rescued by foreign and ma
tive mission workers who skulk near
! the death towers.
Girls Are Sold For 80 Cents.
Little girls so rescued are reared and
trained in the various founding homes
and schools. It is an encouraging fact
( that more and more fathers are dis
posing of their superfluOus girls in This
I way, and some even promise to take
them back later If they are ever able
( TO do so. An increasing number are
impelled nowadays TO keep them any
way, even though they may have to
sell them in times of famine. During
1 such periods Of stress, which are far
l too common, little girls are sold to
/ strangers for as low as so cents apiece
( The purchasers have never been &C
! cused of philanthrOpic motives. The
/ girls who manage to stay in the family
! until maTriageable, which is at the age
/ OF Is or 10, are then turned over to
/ their husbands for sum Of money
/ which varies according to the wealth
/ of the grOOm's parents They then be-
/ come the child bearers or their IN
! sought mates and the household
/ drudges of their mOthers-in-law. De
/ lightful prospect, isn't it2
Economic Conditions Responsible.
It must be said that economic
( pressure IS partly responsible for this
! horrible infanticide. The girl babies
! would take rice out Of the mouths Of
/ the boys, and, of course, the boys must
/ be saved up against the day when the
! father and mother are old and can no
/ longer work. . The average Chinese is
! too poor to support even fair sized
l family by his own low standards OF
/ living, to say nothing Of ours; cOnse-
/ QUently, the girls must go. The boy
| made so fortunate by the mere acct
! dent Of birth to be allowed the simple
! privilege Of living. viii do well If he
! himself resists the effects Of poor nOur-
/ ishment filth and disease long enough
] to grow to manhood.
It is a bitter struggle merely to ex-
/ ist in China and the critic VINO realizes
this plain fact can see the Chinese
/ point of view. One who does so bleeds
/ in sympathy even though the eye will
! not close on the cause Of it all. The
J Chinese are not naturally vicious. on
} the contrary, they are just as human
| as we are. They are slaves to custom
! Their system makes it so easy to bring
/ in new life to replace whatever is lost
/ by the wayside.
! VIII Rescue Life II Paid.
A group of Chinese stand placidly
/ by while you, or even one Of their own
! kind, struggles wildly in the water.
! One or more finally agrees to rescue
/ you II you promise to pay so much
/ money. They may even hold out for
! a higher sum as you are about 90
/ go down for the last time. This is not
/ Unborn cruelty. 1t IS blunted cOnscien-
/ tioUsness. Life is so very cheap, even
/ their own, that few more or less are
/ of no account If it is a case Of drown
! ing, there is still less chance Of be-
/ ing pulled out. even though a for
( eigner is concerned, for the reason
! that the Chinese believe there are
{ spirits in the water to whom the
! drowning one is going willingly or is
! being called to the depths; Fence, the
! folly Of trying to prevent such death.
Land Burdened By Graves.
! From 10 to 20 percent Of the land in
{ China is burdened by graves. If a fair
! " welI-to-do Chinese is beset by
/ strange doubts by day or bad dreams
/ by night, some priest tells him that
| the uneasiness Of some ancestor IN his
! grave is the cause Whereupon the
J bones of the restless one are taken up
1 and deposited with due ceremony in
| another place, for so much, to be sure
! SO much significance is attached 10
I burial that if a family hasn't enough
| money to give the dead member the
/ funeral which custom DEGREES, the
/ body is covered with stones and dirt
| just outside the house. There II stays