Evening star., 1923-05-26
THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON
BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM

After Suchow. the deluge, The
tiger has tasted human blood: never
again will he. content himself with
| sheep or heifer"
We were speaking. an official Of the
government and myself. of the
prisoners still in the hands of the
Chinese bandits. He was speaking
unofiicially, of course, and anony-
, mously. His words came, however
from ripe knowledge of far eastern
Ways and mental processes.
New China has started something
we shall be years in stopping" he
| raids at any time from now on"
What's the end of the business"
asked him.
II don't see it at ALL" he replied
| "Certainly not until China manages
somehow to set up a government
strong enough to command respect
at home"
BY, that time. he was in a mood
reminiscent of the days when he
| roamed the length and breadth OF
China, as immune from bandit
bands as an ostrich is from indiges-
tion. This business of capturing for
eigners, 1T seems, is new in the old
4 / q
democratic institution that the old
empire did not tolerate. Bandits did
not disturb the peace of an emperor
they were part of the established
order. but they had this thing in
| common with honest ChineSe-when
| q foreigner came around they stuck
| their noses in their sleeves and re-
! fused to touch him.
My friend sighed for the old ordSr
that is no more. AS he told the story
| 1t was a theory of government that
J kept everybody under control by let
ting them do as they pleased Any
! community could be as disorderly as
II liked so long as 1t did not get the
central government in trouble. No
body was responsible for the emperor
except the man Immediately under
him, but everybody was responsible
to the person just above him.
The village headman might have
| his own pet band of bandits-even
! If they were not his pets, he was re-
sponsible for them if they operated
! in his territory-and they might cap
ture somebody so important that rep
| reservations were made to the en-
Deror.
Did that celestial potentate send
an army trekking into the mountain
fastnesses to ferret out the bandits
and rebuke them with bullets? He
| did not bother at all about the re-
mote village or the bandit band. In
stead, he threatened to cut off the
head of his own Immediate inferior
the yiceroy.
Having a hankering for keeping
his head at home, the viceroy got
after the governor of the province
! and threatened to boil him in oil
The governor Of the province wen,
| after the district dignitary. who went
! after local magistrate, who saw the
village headman, who went and took
the captive from his bandit band
Thus the snickersnee was stayed
| from shipping off the viceroyal head
| the captive went home happy and
the celestial court remained as serene
as the moon.
In those times a foreigner played
with a nest of bandits as if il We're
! a nest of kittens. Every bandit in
| China knew that the capture of q
| foreigner meant representations tC
! the emperor and all that rigamarole
! of cutting off heads and frying in
! fat The village threatened with
| bandit raids priced foreigner more
| highly than a negro does rabbit
! foot. His presence was the best pos
| sible insurance against attack, and
! the village headman frequently paiC
! foreigner to prolong his stay IT
| the village.
When China became progressive