The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-02

.servative Of statesmen. He thinks
twice before he acts, and still he is
not afraid TO make decisions and act
promptly.
/ was told in Picking how Yuan
Shin kai put down a rebellion while
he was viceroy of Chilli. This was
lust after the Boxer rebellion, when
the foreigners still held Tientsin. Yuan
had moved with his viceregal court to
Pao Tingfu. The country was still
filed with the turmoil OF h revolu-
ton, and it was necessary that Yuan
should show the foreigners that he
could control. He sent orders to the
rebels that they must submit and
upon their refusing sent a regiment
Of soldiers to march to h town
where they we're, and il they did not
at once put down their arms to
showed fight and Yuan Shin Kai
wiped out the town, killing a thousand
of the people in less than an hour.
The day after his Yuan said to the
American who told me this story:
Il p your people at Tientsin
will critieise my action. but If they do
so you may tell them that that is the
way I do business and a future re-
bellions will be handled like this"
The story Of this slaughter went
over north China, and it struck terror
to the hearts of the Boxers. 1t also
convinced the foreigners that Yuan
meant business.
1 am told that Yuan is a born mill
tary leader and that he would rather
al any time to a military man than
to a civilian. He looks best when he
is in uniform and is riding at the head
of his troops. OF late years he has
grown fat and his complexion is SAL
low and discolored. He is short and
heavy, with a big head, on broad, flat
shoulders, which shine out of puffy,
slant lids. His hair is now white and
his mustache is the color Of snow. He
looks shorter in the European clothes,
which he now wears, han be did in
the gorgeous Chinese silk costume,
embroidered with gold. which formed
his official attire up to the time of the
last revolution. He has also cut off
his queue, and altogether has lost
much Of his striking appearance. He
is, 1 venture. six or eight inches
shorter than was Ii Hung Chang,
and, physically speaking, he is by no
means SO impressive.
Yuan Shin kai is said to have aged
greatly since he came back to power.
He has always been a high liver. He
q I1d1l OOZCA wives OIL various u0-
greeS, and it is currently said that he
loves them not wisely. but too we'll.
The late Ambassador Bryce, who went
to China after leaving Washington a
short time agO, has been reported as
saying that Yuan is sadly addicted to
he opium habit, and that he observ-
ed that the president was under the
influence Of opium during the audi
ence. / do not believe Mr.. Bryce said
anything of the kind. He is too much
of a diplomat to have done so even
though he were sure that the above
were a fact.
YuaE Shih Kai is the last of the
really great statesmen of the old reg
ime. The most Of the other men VII,
are now doing big things in China
are comparatively young. Many O.
them are graduates Of our colleges
and the day is soon coming wher
China will be ruled by men who are
educated in America. Tang Shao Y
is a graduate Of Yale. The present
Chinese minister at Washington wen
to the high school Of the Nationa
Capital n graduated at Cornell. SUI
Vat Sen, who is now in this country
was educated in the English school
of h Hawaiian Islands, and the who'll
. empire begins to throb with youn,
; blood.
) AS to Yuan Shin Kai-he ties tn,
past to the present. He was a grea
man thirty years and he bee
a part OF all the history of China dur
. ing the past generation. He was &C
temporary with Prince Chang Ch
Tung, Yung LEU and Ii Hung Chane
He was brought up as it were by [
= Hung Chang. and the two for year
! worked together. He was close t
q the empress dowager and to the EN-
: peror Kwang SUI. He has know
every foreigner Of note who has com
: . to China within the past thirty year,
= and although never outside of Asia, h
= has a good knowledge Of our civiliza
= ton and of h the great powers ar
doing in the work OF the world.
Indeed, It seems to me that some {
:. the most interesting characters OF tn
e last generation have been Chimes
= These people are a strange mixture {
barbarism and civilization. They loy
their friends and they kill their en-.
mics; and the man in power has n