The Detroit times., 1916-04-18
POOR OLD CHINA.
~ Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

oiu IIlenu Snln8.
/ know 1t is quite the custom to shed
tears over her sad fate The proper ex-
preston seems to be, poor old China"
When the rambunctious American patri-
OF wishes to utter his loudest boo, and .
to make sure he will scare us half to
death, he asks the white-livered pacifists.
do you want to Chinaize the United
States ?"
Look at China" he allows in his most
strenuous voice, rs he rears upon his
hind legs and addresses his fellow citi-
zens. ''See how she is the prey of every
robber nation. The whole world picks on
her. Note how Japan is gobbling her up.
Alas and alack! That is precisely the
fix we will be in unless We get ready to
defend ourselves by an army as big as
Germanys and fleet as efficient as Eng
lands"
All right. Suppose We do take look
at poor old China. We may discover
some amazing things.
First you will notice that China is still
on the map. And second, that she has
been on the map. in substantially the
same shape as at present, for longer
time than any other nation now extant.
She was there before Alexander the
Great started out to conquer the known
earth, and before pious Aeneas carried
his father on his back out of Troy town
and set forth to found Rome; and she is
still there, calmly eating rice and dream
ing of philosophy. now that Greece is a
two-spot in the pack of nations, and
Rome is little better.
Yes, poor old China, example of un-
preparedness. has been invaded by hos
tile hordes, but somehow said hordes
didn't do to her what they did to bellig-
erent Rome. After they got through
conquering China, for some mysterious
reason the conquerors disappeared, and
the conqueree went right on doing busi-
ness at the old stand.
Every nation has tried It's hand at
licking China. They have all succeeded,
and came away blowing horns and SWELL
ing out their chests After they went
away China resumed drinking tea, and
otherwise proceeding with her ancient
task of minding her own business.
Poor old China has no national hymn
and no national honor. as we understand
the terms. We call them confoundedly
unpatriotic. If you want to invade China
you don't even have to take your own
army; you can hire Chinese army
right on the premises. But when you are
done you will find that you haven't both
cred China much She is in no hurry.
Pretty soon you 60 away, and your IN
vaded country is about the same as
usual. thank you.
Yet for all that, the Chinese have a
racial solidarity greater than that of any
other people. They are as proud as Ger
mans or English. You may not like
them; they are not particular about that.
Their civilization does not suit you, pos
sibly, but 1t seems to suit them.
No wonder the arm-arm-ye-braves pa
triots now agitating preparedness and
passing preparedness resolutions at
luncheons in Kansas City, Sourn Bend.
and Seattle, shiver to contemplate the
fate of poor old China.
For think of it! THE ONLY NATION
THAT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF
TINE, THAT HAS STOOD BY AND
SEEN ALL THE OTHERS RISE AND
FALL. Is THE ONLY ONE THAT
NEVER PREPARED.
Funny, amt it?
Japan now threatens her. Well, prob
ably Japan will coerce her. She will go
over there and slap poor old China's face,
now that Europe is too busy to interfere,
and take her purse and do the standard
bandit nation stunt. And China will say.
"Oh, very well. You'll get through after
while. They all do. We don't mind. 1t
all seems to be in the game"
And then the Chinese wave of human
ity will softly close over what's left Of
the Japanese among her, and her strange.
eternal folk will go on meditating on the
lmaxims of Confucius. and wait until the
next darn fool bunch of dynamite experts