The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-06
Christian Workers Have More Freedom
 Than Ever In China
Y. M. C. A. ColIegian Talks In- terestingIy of Condition She Has Found En
 Pekin.

felt in social life in Peking," says J. 1 s. Burgess one of the young Princeton
 men who are conducting one '. M. c. A., for Chinese and another for the soldiers of the various legation guards l in this capital.
 | MT. Burgess has been devoting him
 self especially to social work among l the Chinese. He has, as a result, ac- qu1red much knowledge of unusual conditions in the prisons, insane asy- 1 Iums and poor houses in Peking. At the same time he has great hopes of the Chinese becoming more and more | active in betterfng conditions among their own people. He thinks, too, that the new liberty of ideas which 1 the Republic has brought about will 1 increase the number of Christian con- verts more rapidly than heretofore. Out of a. membership of 400, the Chi nese Y. M. c. A., in Picking has at present but thirty acknowledged | converts made by missionaries have generally come from the poorer classes, and many of these Christians are unable to spare from their earn ings the annual dues of $3 year for m en bership.
 As a result of his Investigations, MT. Burgess says there are 25,o00 rick shaw coolies in Peking, and that many of them not only provide for them selves, but also for families of two or three persons on an income of from ten to fifteen coppers, worth less than half the value of the same number of American cents, per day. "A brief study of twenty of these men, says MT. Burgess in 8 report just compiled, revealed the Act that they are not so grossly ignorant and hopeless as might be supposed. A good propor- tion of them can read, and thus are open to- the influence of easy Chinese literature.
 '"There are thousands of apprentices and employees in the large stores who are virtually slaves, working from A to 18 hours a day with no wholesome recreation and chance for educa- ton. These men are not allowed to leave the store. Modern industry has as yet scarcely shown it's head in Peking, but now is the time to create public opinion which will result in the enactment of laws making impossible those conditions already existing in the factories of Osaka and Shanghai. In Osaka thousands of women, 1ured in from the country on false promises, are forced to work incredible hours on starvation pay, sleeping in crowded and unsanitary buildings under blar1- kets that are never for an hour with out user.
 That there is ignorance of the grossest kind among the lower classes in Picking and a vast field for educa--
 
 evident. A coo1ie who was attending the Social Service Club night school asked me whether America really was a place, or whether it was vague like Heaven, and added, What do you think? They say the world is round. Anyone can see it isn't The rick shaw coo1ie's idea of 8 republic was that Yuan Shfh-kaf had become ern- peror. But perhaps this shows signs of astuteness rather than ignorance.
 Long training to consider bodily exercise as ignob1e, and many wise precepts about the student who burns the midnight oil have brought about a class of students for the most part physically weak, among whom tuber- cu1osis and eye-troub1e are common.
 ''The eWesterner is struck with the emptiness of the lives of the poor and lack of development of the play in stinct. The coolie's ideal of good time is to go home and do nothing When a student of the College of Lam guages was asked what he did when he wanted to enjoy himself he replied, T eat. This is my fifth meal to-day
 ffThe lack of wholesome amusement naturally results in participation in unwho1esome amusement. Five years ago there was not a poolroom in Pe- king. There are now dozen of them. Gambling and drinking are common in such places.
 "The theatre never a place of high
 moral influence, is in some cases in troducing modern drama, with orches- tra, curtains, and realistic acting and speaking. Since the revolution for the first time actresses have found a place in tleAcity. We are told by one of the police departments that there has been marked increase of open inn morality since the revolution. The converting of parliament was also CO., incident with unusual sale of girls into slavery from impoverished Man. c11u families.
 t'The sudden change of this nation into a republic has brought in a hOs1 of new and totally misunderstood western ideas about the supposedly modern relations of men and women This has been noted even in the mis- sion schools. Of a pleasant summer evening numbers of unchaperoned young men and women could be seen strolling about the groves of the Tenn pie of Heaven, arm in arm. For Chi na, such 8 thing was utterly unheard of 8 few months ago."
 MT. Burgess declares also that the prisons range from Heaven to He'll" There is a model prison in Peking that compares favorably with the pris- ons of Europe and America and might be an inducement for many of the homeless, who lose their limbs and sometimes their lives by freezing in the streets of this city in winter, to commit crimes in order to be sent there. But, as a policeman explain ed to him, the prisoner cannot tell which jail he will be condemned to occupy. MT. Burgess is trying to en- list the cooperation of the Chinese whenever and wherever possible in his work He says he has been ad- vised that with some definite scheme in hand, Yuan Shih-kai himself will heartily cooperate in a plan of en- lfghtenment. MT. Burgess proposes that all the public halls in the city the theatres and schools, as we'll as the foreign missions, shall be thrown open to a campaign of popular education with public speakers on the platforms, MT1RRAY AGREEn T1pON