The Washington times., 1915-07-08
New inspiration Given ColIec.
tive Purpose and Relation
ships.
RAISE SALVATION FUND
Natives See Need Of Working
Out For Themselves Re.
forms Long Needed.
Ey OSCAR KING DAVIS.


last few weeks regarding the future
Of their country and the best means
to be taken to make 1t safe from the
aggression Of Japan or any other
predatory nation.
At a time when even among the
government officials in Peking and
tho provinces there has been great
uncertainty and division Of opinion as
to what to do 1t was certain that there
would be similar differences in the
suggestions voluntarily submitted
from among the mass OF the people.
But 1t has betokened a new inspira-
ton among the Chinese that there
should be such a feeling and such
voluntary individual effort to do
something for the relief Of tho
harassed government.
Nationalism Develops.
One thing Japan has done for China
but IL was a thing which was not within
the range of her intention when she set
out on her policy of aggression and
plunder. She has brought the inchoate
and formative .nationalism Of the Chi
nese a long way forward toward the
point of capitalization.
1t will not be at all surprising to see
as one OF the results of the Japanese de-
mands upon China, perhaps even as the
greatest result. a sudden concentration
Of Chinese national purpose and hard
ening OF Chinese character destined to
make infinite trouble for the easy con-
querors Of today.
For the last decade and a half there
have been increasing evidences that the
Chinese were reawakening to a sense Of
their national relationships and obliga-
tions.
Fifteen years ago a wise old China
| man told mo in Shanghai, within a few
weeks after the close of the Boxer siege
of the Peking legations. that the hope Of
China lay in the working out of the
necessary reforms by the Chinese people
themselves.
Influence of Telegraphs.
He was. then the director general Of
| railways and telegraphs. Under his di-
| rection some few. telegraph lines had
been strung. connecting some OF the
| chief cities of the empire. The whole
system had only about 1000 miles of
wire. but already it's effect upon the
|
shrewd old man.
Wherever the telegraph goes" he
said. 1T carries the news from one
| section to another. Local newspapers
other parts of the country. and the
people who read them begin to realize
| that they are one people with those
| from whose cities or towns the dis
| patches come
The result is a new spirit OF nation
| Ill q
by the avarice and ambition of othei
nations, China will wake up by anc
by and become again nation capab biz
Of taking the place among the othel
nations OF the world which her peopI'
and her resources entitle her to oc
cupy. ,..o
to work out their reforms by them
selves and for themselves, II the at
tempt is made to i;noose In tne ,". nese'sse; ths;
China will be split up into small sec
tions into spheres Of influence. ana WI!
disappear from the list of nations. Th
hope Of China is in being let alone.
China Waking Up.
That wise old man is In disgrace now
living In the. foreign settlements
SHANGHAI. afraid to go out OF his nous
lest some of the new Chinese patriot
make an attempt on his life. His name
as 1t Ia given In the Chinese Who
Who. IA Sheng Hsuan-huai. but tn
name used by those who speak OF MI
with unfriendly intonation Is sheh
Kung-pao. ,
four years ago. he has lived part of tn
time in Japan and part Of the time
Tsing-tau that German port In IN
province OF Shantung which furnishe
the pretext for the recent japanese az
mands
Of Sheng and for the opprobrlum wnlc
is now heaped upon him by his country
men. It was an act Of MS MN Wnieh n ~, y,
, revolution that brought the reign or IN
Manchus in Peking to an end.
He was president Of the board OF COLI
munications. and he believed that tf
vogue in China was fraught with gray
, menace to the stability of the govern
ment.
! China had just begun to wake up
} the necessity and advantage or havin
railroads built throughout the countr,
The provinces had gone railroad ma
and each by itself was undertaking a
, sorts Of railroad enterprises.
9 Antagonized Manchus.
Sheng proposed the naturalization
all the railways of China. and he n
gotiated a great loan for that purpos
e Away out in the western province
= Szechuan, where a provincial railroa
was under construction on capt.
largely furnished by the gentry of Il
province, this act aroused violent O.
position and there the revolution mr.
- broke into Name.
e The Manchu government visited Il
punishment upon Sheng and he WI
dismissed in disgrace. 1t was with Il
utmost difficulty that his life WI
o saved and he was escorted out of +
g king by representatives of the Amer
!" can, British, German. and French leg
tions, the four powers that were /
terested In the loan he had negotiate
China has largely recovered from !
! opposition to the naturalization OF Il
railroads now, and perhaps. II tn
d were the only charge laid at Shens
door his disgrace would no longer
remembered against him.
= 1t was another act which is cherish
l. nowadays with even greater bitterne
.e than his railroad plan. He Is accus
y of being the man who did more thu
any one else to enable the Japanese
ID | get a foothold in the great Iangt
Is yslley.-Copyright 1915, The ChicsI
Tribune.