Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-10
THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
xIX-THEPROBLEM OF POPULATION.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

though they may :.ave to sell them in
times of famine I,nring such periods OF
stress, which are f.:r too common. little
girls are sold to st Anglers for as low as
- cents apiece. She purchasers have
never been accused of philanthropic mo-
tives. The girls ws;o manage TO stay in
the family until maA--iageable. which is at
the age of fifteen pr sixteen, are then
turned over to thesS husbands for sum
of money which vsies according to the
wealth of the grS,m's parents. They
then become the solid bearers of their
unsought mates and tn, household
drudges of their mc.lers-in-law. Delight
full prospect isn't is%
1t must be said t,.at economic pressure
is partly responsible. for this horrible in
faniicide. The girl babies would take the
rice out of the moths OF the boys, and.
of course. the bo q. must be saved up
against the day Chen the father and
mother are old ans can no longer work
They then will be created Will: great re-
spect by the childsn and grandchildren.
and the daughters, en-law will also work
for them. When :ley die the sons and
their families will E,en honor their men,
DRY. In other worG whatever is, is right.
~;:
- x
1t is the custom decreed by their re-
vered ancestors aSd therefore must be
absolutely just and
custom Uecreed proper. The average
hr A...4 Chinese is too poor
oy Ancestors, to support even a
fair sized family Nv his own low stand
ards of living. tossay nothing of ours;
consequently the ss.rls must GO The boy.
made SO fortunate by the mere accident
of birth to be allowed the simple privilege
of 1i1-fn 8 Ii,
sists the effects of Door nourishment. filth
and disease long enough to grow to man.
hood.
1t is bitter str-ygle merely to exist in
China, and the &tic who realizes this
plain fact can Sc the Chinese point Of
view. One who pes so bleeds in SYM
pathy even though the eye will not close
on the cause Of all. The Chinese are
not naturally vid$b on the contrary.
they are just as "a man as we are. They
are slaves to cuS: om. Centuries of in
grown habit havT made them callous in
this respect Extreme observance of
duties supposed - DE due to ancestors
rights. The livi4!, must suffer and die
that the dead m;H be honored. Human
life is about the 3leapest thing in China
There is SO mucf,fof it that is already in
the way Their = stem makes 1T SO easy
to bring in new gle to replace whatever
is lost by the was8ide.
A group of Chi hese stand pacidly by
struggles wildly IN the water. one or
more finally agrees to rescue you il you
promise to pay 70 much money. They
may even hold = for a higher sum as
you are about tc go down for the last
time. This is nt4 Unborn cruelty. 1t is
blunted conscienttousness.
7 x :,
Life is SO veryfcheap. even their own,
that a few morN or less are Of no ac-
count. When their
Small Regard pr system forces them
Lives of Others to destroy or give
~0 Va away or sell their
own children, With equanimity if not
risk their own lives, or even to be eXerted
unduly, to save : man who has foolishly
or unwittingly endangered his own? More
than this, the Chinaman on the shore
reasons that the person struggling for
life in a moment of peril may have elect
ed to die prematurely and thus avoid fur
Their miseries incident to living So why
interfere? If it is a case of drowning,
there is still less chance of being pulled
out even though a foreigner is concerned,
for the reason that the Chinese believe
there are spirits in the waters to whom
the drowning CHE is going willingly or
is being called so the depths: hence. the
folly of trying 80 prevent such a death.
To do so might incur the i'll will of the
evil spirits ands thus bring about their