Evening star., 1940-02-03
Books
. Continued From First Page.)

Rome, with the insuing 400 years
of darkness.
The great official libraries, DR..
Hummel says, already are largely
in the hands of American institu-
tions. Now comes the turn of the
books and manuscripts in private
ownership. No one knows what
treasures of art, science and lit
erature may be found among them.
These great libraries. DR.. Hummel
says, are to be found in the Man.
chu country houses OF Northwest
China. They were assembled as the
private property of powerful OFF,
cials, who left them to their chill
dren with precise instructions that
they were to be preserved intact for
ever. Some of the wills even pro-
vided that nobody ever should enter
the library for fear of some dam
age to the precious books. He him.
self encountered one case where, in
order to consult book, it was nee
essary to get the consent of all living
members of the family.
The wishes of ancestors are not
lightly disregarded In China. OF
late years, however, there has been
some easing of restrictions to allow
the books and manuscripts to be
catalogued. Now, one after an
other, they are being thrown on the
market at ridiculously low prices.
Many of the volumes have never
been opened, and there are no rec
ords of them.
Hope to Get Them Back.
Eventually. DR.. Hummel says, the
Chinese hope to get back their treas
ures in the form of reprints and
photostats and to rebuild their great
libraries on a national scale. They
now feel they must let them go into
the possession of sympathetic for
eigners or see them lost forever.
Meanwhile, says DR.. Hummel,
these acquisitions and the interest
in Chinese culture which they are
bound to create. may produce q
leaven for Western materialism
which will help save it from itself
in the days q rising autocracies.
1t is little appreciated, he stresses.
that Chinese civilization represented
the farthest advances of the human
race in social democracy, in the de-
velopment of techniques to enable
human beings to get along together.
China made little progress in polit-
ical democracy, and always had a
government of men rather than
of laws.
Already, DR.. Hummel says, the
leaven of Chinese thinking is hav-
ing a profound effect in the United
States. For more than two genera
tions there was an average of about
5000 American and European mis-
sionaries in China Their children
were reared and educated there,
came into contact with the Chinese
philosophy of life, and as a result
never can look upon social problems
from quite the same viewpoint as
Occidentals.
Rise to Prominence.
Many of these men and women,
Dr. Hummel says, now are rising to
prominence in American life. They
are coloring all they do with their
Chinese-inculcated philosophy.
The Library Of Congress is becom-
ing especially rich in books and
manuscripts dealing with Chinese
history, including more than 5000
county histories" recounting the
deeds Of the local worthless in al
most every corner of China. Curl
ously. according to popular beliefs,
DR.. Hummel says, each devotes much
space to the achievements of local
women, generally supposed to have
been oppressed. The latest acqui-
sitions include some law books and
legal case histories, the existence of
which has not been known before,
even in China.