The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-06-21

Ii studying conditions in China.
He tells here Of his observa,
lions on trip up the 5000.
mile yangtze river:
BY VIM. PHILIP slMMs,
written Expressly for the N. E. A.
on BoARpsTHE "woosUNG,
YASGTzEeRIANG, China, April II.
some reflections after walk
round Wnhu:
One thing / have learned Is this:
lou must not expect too much Of a
chinese city In It's infancy; youth
b Always careless about dirt and
Wuhu Is scarcely two thousand
years old
Hope that dead man met in the
road slung on q bamboo pole be.
tween two grunting Chinese didn't
die ofspest or smallpox. Caught in
d dark, smelly street about four
feet wide / couldn't give him as
much room as l should have liked.
Nearby i saw a woman washing
salad IN q puddle OF water, filthy
and odoriferous beyond telling. My
thought was maybe the dead man
vas eating Just such a salad as that
Yesterday
Wonder why China isn't swept
~ plague which would not stop
until the last man, woman and child
had been carried of.
ON green field near some
standard OIL tanks, l saw native
boys PLAYING football. They were
doing II well despite red.and.white
calico uniforms.
NJ n 3! Bhrwell, OF the Metho.
DIST Mission at Smuggling was
Watching them.
N they can learn football" he
nsusedy they can learn sanitation.
fhey only need somebody to teach
them sanitation as some one has
taught them foot ball.
Billions Of dollars worth of con.
sions have been wrung from
China by the great powers. They've
done nothing for her as yet, in re.
ttfns III
ITS only the Missionaries mere
handful Of them - trying to wake
40 four hundred million people.
The missionaries and few educnt.
- Chinese,
How much Is that little brass
neon there2n l inquired of u Wuha
ucfcfant.
one dollar he replied blandly.
Why, wouldn't give you more
tliRn two cents for that piece OF
itnlS, 1sjowered.
AlIightee,n the merchant came
lack with alacrity, you takee'
He stung me at that: Brass, one.
hAil cent labor practically moth
ing certainly not more than an.
other half cent. Total one cent.
i'sont 100 per cent.
Wonder Just how much method
here Is in the madness Of the pow
ers in conspiring to keep John
hinaman down. II he ever wakes
~. wow He 10 a born trader.
dig a hole III any old field in
China and two years later there'll
be fish 1t Ait two feet long" an old
fangtze pilot told me. Heaven
only knows where they come from"
dproYed the old man right to-.
day at Wuhu
Walking along road bordering
rice field, ! saw two Chinese,
j eir pants rolled IN to their thighs,
Wading around in the knee-deep
mud and water covering the patch.
Each had "a bamboo basket with the
bottom out This they repeatedly
picked up and put down again in
Inherent spots, feeling around in.
side with foot or hand. Now and
tlteu they pulled out good.sized
fish which they had hemmed up in
tho basket.
There are two / crops for you!
Rice and fish.
Se
Close to this rice field saw
native preparing a spring garden,
II was about IS feet In diameter,
He stood in the middle and urged
IN unwilling COW, at tho end of
rope. to walk round and round him
n d circle while his wife threw on
buckets Of water.
Hours later when I again passed
the spot, the earth had been re-
duced TO a loblolly, the COW to a
state Of litter disgust and the wife
% something approaching collapse.
The gardener sat 10 one side ap.
parently greatly pleased with the
Job.
Tractors viii one day come to
ttie wife's and cows rescue.
Along q narrow path on top OF a
leyee protecting The fiat fields from
d YangtSe food. moved q process.
sion of Chinese wheelbarrows, each
containing a 500.pound bale Of com.
pressed American cotton. Each
barrow hadaa man pushing It and,
itsuails q woman pulling with a
rope Tbs wheels suueaked and
creaked 10 high heaven.
Why don't they grease those
thingsge i demanded.
Because tho noise drives the
devils away, 2 was told.
wuhu has a. population Of 1876, 900
and sa rice center. There is a
small cotton-saill or two. 1t has
heen treaty port since 1877 and
number of Americans and other
foreigners live there. There are
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