Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-12-06
MEMBERS OF CHRISTIAN COMMUN
ITN NOW FREE As NEVER BE
FORE TO MAKE THEIR INFLT-
ENCE FELT IN PEKING.
CHINESE Y. N. C. A.
ONE Is BEING CONDUCTED BY
PRINCETON GRADUATES. WHO
ARE ALSO CONFLICTING ONE FOR
SOLDIERS OF LEGATIONS.
(By Associated Press /.

before to enter into all forms Of activi
ties and to make their influence felt in
social life in Picking" says i. =. Burgess
one of the Young Princeton men who are
conducting one Y. NJ. G. 4. for Chinese
and another for The soldiers Of The yari
Gus legation guards in this capital.
Mr.. Burgess has been dcyoting himself
especially to social work among the Chin
csc. He has, as a result. acquired much
knowledge of unusual conditions in the
prisons, insane asylumS. and poor houses
in Picking. At the anne time he has great
hopes of the Chinese becoming more and
more active in lettering conditions among
their own people. He thinks. too, that the
new liberty Of ideas which the Republic
has brought about will increase the mum
Der of Christian converts more SapldlN
than heretofore. Out of a membership of
400, the Chinese y. Nj. G. A. in Picking has
at present but thirty acknowledged Chris
tians. One reason is that the converts
made by missionaries have generally
come from the poorer classes, and many
of these Christians are unable to spare
IRON lHclT earnings tHc dllludl uucS Vi
So Il year for membership.
AS ii result of his Investigations. Mr..
Burgess SAYS there are = 1000 rickShaw
coolies in Picking, and that many Of them
not only provide for themselves. 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 Mr.. Burgess i'll a report just com
piled, "rcyealed the fact that they are
not so COSBY ignorant and hopeless as
might be supposed. \ good proportion
of them can read. and thus are open 10
the influence of easy Chinese literature.
There are thousands of apprentices
and employees in the large stores who are
virtually slaves, working from II to Is
hours Il day with no wholesome recreation
and no chance for education. These men
are moi allowed to leave the store. Mod
ern industry has as yet scarcely shown
its head in Picking, but now is the time {"
create poblic opinion which will result III
the enactment of laws making impossible
those conditions already existing III the
factories OF Osaka and Shanghai. In
Osaka thousands of Omcn lurcd in from
the country OF false promises, are forced
to work incredible hours on starvatio"
pay. sleeping in crowded and unSanitarA
buildings under blankets that are never
for an hour without a user.
That there is ignorance of tie crosses
kind among the lower classes in Picking
and a vast field for education along the
very simplest lines is evident. A coolic
who was attending the Social Service
Club night school asked me whether Am
erica really was Il place, or whether il
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 coolies idea of a republic WAS that
Yuan Shih-ka had become emperor. Blu
perhaps this shows signs OF aStutcncSS
rather than ignorance.
Long training to consider bodily cX
ercisc as i.noblc. and many wise prccept>
about the student who burns the midnigh
oil have brought about a class of students
for the most part physically weak. among
whom tuberculosis and eye trouble are
common.
The WeStrrncr is struck with the emp
tincss of the lives of the poor and Of the
rich alike. and the apparent lack Of de
velopmcnt of the play instinct. Tho
coolies ideal of a good time is to 90 home
and do nothing. When a student Of the
College of Languages was asked what he
did when he wanted to enjoy himself he
replied. II eat. This is my fifth meal TO
day.
"Thc lack of wholesome amuSemcntS
naturally results in participation in IN
wholesome amuScmcntS. Five years ago
there was not Il pOolrOOm in Picking.
There are now Il dozen Of them. Gamb-
ling and drinking are common in such
places.
The theatre. never a place If high
moral influence, is in some cases intro
ducing modern drama. with orchestra.
curtains. and realistic acting and speak
inc. Since the revolution for the first
time actresses have found Il place in the
city. We are told by one of the police
departments that there has been marked
increase Of opn immortality since the rev
olutiOn. The converting of parliament
was also %cOincidcnt with an unusual sale
of girls into slavery from impoverished
Manchu families.
The sudden change Of this nation into
a republic has brought i'm IL host of new
and totally misunderstood western IDEAS
about the supposedly modern relations Of
men and women. This has been noted
even i'm the mission schools. OF a pleas
ant summer evening numbers of unchape-
ronrd Young men and women could be
seen strolling about the groves of the
Temple of Heaven, arm in arm. For
China such a thing was utterly unheard
Of a few months ago"
Mr.. Burgess declares also that the pris-
ons range from Heaven to He'll. There
X \ .lmodel prison i'm Picking that COM