Evening star., 1928-12-16
BY COUNT CARLO sFORZA.
Yormer italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Ambassador to France


known in Turkey with Ad-
miral Bristol after the armlStlce, tolc
me, when he came on board the boat
to meet me:
ut is going to be strange for you to
see trenches and sandbags in peaceful
Shanghai-barbed wires cutting across
the large, rich avenues: to see again
the shadow of the great war on the
full hustle of intense industrial
life"
It was really matter for wonder.
Even greater wonder and food for
reflection was the sight of the Chinese
peddlers, who, when our sentries were
rather far off, hung their toys and sun
dry goods on the very wires OF the
trenches-making them useful for once,
but in way quite unforeseen by our
gallant general staffs.
All that was so Chinese; Chinese, the
great fear of the foreigners: Chinese
the natives Indifferent adaptation OF
any troublesome Western innovation.
But I was not new to China, as my
American friend was; I could have
known all that before landing; 1t was
not in vain that my five years of
Pekingese life were still so fresh in my
memory What, in reality, struck me
as new was the streams of coolies COM
ing out of the factories after work
all weStern-owned factories-buying a
newspaper. throwing a rapid glance at
1t. then hiding it carefully in the depths
of their filthy robes 1t had only been
a few years since had left China, but
at that time, not a single Chinese would
have given a cent to buy any piece of
political news
That is what decided me to spend
more of my Shanghai days in visiting
ChineSes factories than in going around
with dear and sensible Gen. Duncan,
commander in-chief of the British Ex-
peditionary Corps, whom I had known
and liked when he was military attache
to Italy; or in discussing the situation
with important and busy consul gen.
erals.
There is a side of Chinese life which
has never been examined by impartial
observers-that is, the creation of a
Chinese proletariat, based on condi-
tionS analogous to those in America and
Europe, or, to be more precise land ex-
cluding America, where the conditions
of the working classes are such hu-
initiating lesson for Europe), more or
less similar to the status of miners in
England at the beginning of British in
nineteenth century
Impartial Study Hard.
It is easy to see why the problem has
never been studied impartially. If con-
suls attempt to do so, though they have
the best intentions, they find themselves
dependent for their information upon
American or European employers, often
compatriots and generally unable, apart
from other possible reasons, to see the
importance of the problem. II the re-
ports are made by labor or other So
cialistic Western delegates, they judge
by Western standards and are therefore
equally misled if not equally wrong.
The difficulty of ascertaining material
and moral facts lies in the almost COM
plete impoSSibility for a Westerner to
come into authentic touch with Chinese
workmen. If we approach them through
their leaders, We are probably even far-
ther removed from them. These lead
ers have been to Singapore or to South
Africa, sometimes even to California
They speak some pidgin EngliSh-a
comical language, half Portuguese, halt
English, where, for instance 'save-box'
means head. But, with all their newly
acquired Western knowledge, they have
forgotten and lost all the old peculiar
qualities of the Chinese. For instance
l think of the unconscious effort toward
beauty which one often finds among
Chinese coolies, the sort of impulse tc
create folk song. that has almost dis
appeared from our Aryan family. 1t is
probably through industrialism and the
high pressure at which we live that we
have lost the lift of popular beauty and
Joy of life which is still to be found In
China and Japan.
What has been the Chinese laborer's
life, and what is it actually at present?
Generally speaking, no document should
be read with more distrust than the
speeches of the Chinese delegates to the
League of Nations. The atmosphere al
Geneva amplifies the Orientars natural
gift of painting his country'S affairs In
a tone as far removed from reality as
were the Chinese stories in the Voltaire
style, so popular with us at the end o1
the eighteenth century.
But the life of the Chinese laboreI
before the beginnings of industrialiSm
in the East has been eff1caciously de-
scribed for once by the Chinese dele
gate to the last session of the Inter
national Labor Conference at Geneva
The idyllic note may have been Slightly
forced to dazzle the Western barbarianS
but it is true at bottom. especially view
ed in antithesis to the life which the
so recent industrialism of Shanghai
tends to create.
Peasant Is Happy.
The peasant of what our fathers
called the Middle Kingdom is happy
not because of any great material com
fort, but because the fulfllment of hi!
task carries with it a certain feeling oi
independence 1t is as though he re-
called-I quote from the pompou
Geneva report-the maxims of his OLE
philosophers, which have taught hin
the value of simple life and of human
dignity.
The Chinese workmen's life is as sim
ple as the peasants AS a matter o
fact, they were peasants themSelve
originally. They do not strain afte
material comfort to the same exten
as Western workmen; they ask nelthe
for amusements nor holidays. The
make no complaints about salaries
scanty as they are. But they eXpec
to be treated like human beings AM
not like machines.
Hence, it is not surprising if, durin
the recent strikes in Shanghai the chic
and essential demands of the worker
were greater courtesy from the super
intendents and the right of talking t
each other during working hours, Will
their committees were authorized t
come to terms on the question of in
creased salaries These are facts to re
member in studying the Chinese labo
problem.
Let us admit that, for once, Chimes
evidence is nearer to the truth than tn
statistics compiled in answer to circu
lar which Mr. Ramsay Macdonald issue
to his consular agents in China, whe
he first went to the British Foreign o.
flee. The consuls applied for informa
ton to the employers, mainly EngliSl
who truthfully and in good faith wei
able TO cite figures to show the huge In
provements which modern induStrialiSl
had brought about in labor condition
especially from hygienic point of vieN
But the importance of these things