The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-03-10

aware Of it except the museums in
volved. their agents and Intermediates
and the alarmed Chinese"
In statement made To The Assoc
ciated Press. the secretary of the
Asiatic Institute says;
All signs seem to Indicate that de-
predatons have commenced upon the
archaeological and art wealth of China
To an extent even greater than the
vandalism with which Europe visited
the art and beauty of the shores of the
Mediterranean. The market for Chi
nese antiquities, particularly sculn-
lures came with tn eli & the Rus
so-Japanese war, bu - rltion bears
the stigma of being chief vanda i'm
China. Tie market ia IA iuternation-
al one, and has been developed under
japanese ana European direction with
Paris as headquarters. So well has the
market been worked hS the dealers
that the increase in prices of Chinese
sculpture i'm the past five or six years
has been forty or fifty times. For eX-
ample. one piece of sculpture of North
Wei times-9th century \. D.-csti-
mated To have cost $4O0 i'm China. after
passing through only two or three
hands, is held by dealer at $4,000.
one American museum has ten stone
beads broken from statues i'm the in
terror of China All large museums
of the world have, or are acquiring.
similar fragment. Collectors and mu-
scums i'm America are sending special
representatives To- China with large
sums of money To buy. Similar expo
ditions are setting forth from Europe.
Foreign Ministers Are Aroused.
Realizing the menace to the Sculp-
lures of china the Asiatic Institute is
cooperating with the china Monu
ments Society of Picking, whose COM
mittee is composed of the foreign min
listers at Picking of Great Britain, Rus
STA. America. France and Japan-m"n
who see the situation close at hand
and are aroused by it,"
one remedy which the Institute pro-
poses i'm its appeal is the return to
China by all responsible governments
and institutions. of stolen Chinese an
Equities i'm accordance with a prece-
dent of the French government and
of the Smithsonian Institution, which |
in past years set an example by re-
turning to China archaeological and
historical objects of which she had
been robbed, and which had come into
its possession.
The Institute proposes also, the stop
ping of further indiscriminate pur-
chasing. especially of broken sculp- |
lures. In its appeal for the co-opc"a-
ton of libraries, museums, scientific |
societies and collectors, it says that |
tude of great crime, and should |
arouse international opposition.
To plumber and destroy China's an
Equities" says the appeal tends t.
break down Chinese society. II Grip !
pies research and education, and re-
have shaped the Chinese revolution
and are working for the conservation
Of life i'm China To American insti
tutions of civilization is given the chief
of combating i'm China de-
structive activities of Western origin.
Upon these rests the chief responsible
ity of using those means available 80
friendly peoples for promoting the !
welfare of Chinese society
The Asiatic Institute further empha-
sizes the fact that this plundering of
China is a peculiar crime since 1t viii
European civilizations spoil
ilizations and viii destroy hope of Il
in Western civilization
IF such evil