Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-10-19

famous scientific and literary club
of the world. 1t was founded a gen.
Grafton or so ago by small body or
eminent scientists. and the learned
men strove nightly and long for a
name. After one of their turbulent
meetings. DR. Simon Newcomb. the
famous astronomer, went home tired
and disguised. AS his wife met him
she observed his distress and asked
We'll, Simon, did you choose a
name for the club"
No" said the man whose idea Of
order was that of the stars in their
courses. and of harmony, that of the
music of the spheres. NO; it was
chaos: chaos. chaos...'
yes, Simon, my dear" was the mild
old lady's reply, but you must re-
member that out of chaos comes
cosmos"
The old astronomers face bright
ened like his own heavens at night.
He exclaimed: That's the very name
for our club-Cosmos." And Cosmos
it is to this day.
1t is the same with China, but the
chaos is the direct outcome of a mass
Of new forces which will eventually
evolve r celestial cosmos and make
this country and people one of the
mightiest political, social and eco
The time may be longer or shorter,
for China moves slowly, but to ma
ton with more than 5000 years to
it's credit a decade or so Is only d
few turns Of the second hand on your
watch.
To understand anything Of the stu
alton you must know something of
the social and political conditions
which have formed the very founda-
ton of this body polite for thousands
of years. In the first place, China is
not a nation of individual patriots,
like the United States, Japan or the
many great countries of Europe
They are rather an aggre cation of
families and of independent localities
in which the national spirit is only
now just being born. The clan spirit
is stronger here than it ever was in
Scotland. and, as 4 rule. each family
works for itself and cares nothing
for the others about. The children
owe their allegiance only to their
parents. and in the past the fathers
and mothers have had practically the
power of life and death over their
children. F'ilial piety is here con-
sidered the greatest of virtues, and
the worship of ancestors is the
Chinese religion.
In the past the family was also
the foundation of the government
The emperor was theoretically the
father of his people, and they were
supposed to revere and obey him
Like the father, he could do what he
liked with his national children, and
they submitted without limitations to
almost any kind of imperial authority.
The local rulers, in a lesser sense,
were considered the fathers of their
communities, and they were supposed
to defend them against the other
communities around about. The prin-
~spal Of family independence rather
than individual independence pre-
vailed everywhere.
This family principle worked very
well in the communities, but when
the foreigners began to come in the
Chinese gradually realized they must
work together. The old saying that
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed
OF the church" was never more evil
dent than in the evolution now going
on among the Chinese. The empire
has never welcomed the foreigners,
and for a long time it did all it could
to keep the powers out. But they
kept inching in, by war and by bluff,
making the people more and more
angry and gradually forcing them
closer and closer together for self
preservation.
In the first war between the west
place SO years ago, Hongkong was
ceded to the British, and the. five
ports of Canton, Annoy, Foochow
Ningpo and Shanghai were perma-
nenuy opened to foreign trade. The
second war with Great Britain re-
suited in that country taking a strip
of territory on the mainland opposite