May 18, We have recently had the Day of Humiliation duly observed in our neighbourhood.—Process-jons of students, with and without the accompaniment of a band, paraded the outlying districts and halted themselves now and then to harangue the onlookers. The Day of Humiliation is a Western importation and, rightly used, it might be of. considerable value in educating the people in the principles of good government. So far as our observation went the day not seem to be observed in the most fitting manner. The processions of students usually began with lads of an age round about the twenties and tailed off into straggling ranks of little creatures who properly belonged to the kindergarten. The young orators who addressed the crowds were enthusiastic, but their theme seemed to be vituperation rather than humillation. They were doing what we are all tempted to do when we indulge in humillation; they were putting the blame for their country's shortcomings and misfortunes on the shoulders of others instead of bearing it on their own. All these demon-so far as we have concerting.
The students claim to speak for the nation and we are told that the literati in China have always been the force that moulded public opinion, This may be true, but the literati of former days were men, not boys. They attended the various competitive examinations until they were old and those who can recall the scene at a provincial examination tell ne that there were more grey-beards than youths amongst the competitors. Responsible men Keep aloof from parades of the kind that we have had lately. Ebullient youth is allowed to denounce, in the same breath, ite country's rulers and its coun- #455 7R, tly's enemies because its irreeponsibility is its protection, But the Chinese cannot expect to be taken seriously as long as pub-lie opinion is voiced by boys and girls of school age. The mature manhood of the country would be listened to with respect but the shouts of youth are merely noises of the playground, Subjects for humiliation are not lacking if such were the object of the demonstrators. The recrudescence of opium smok-for instance, is surely a fit for discussion on a day of Sumiliation, "In 1917 China, amidst the plaudits of the world, declared the country free from opium and the importation of the drug for ever prohibited. Today, there is scarcely a province that does not grow opium and there is a gigantic conspiracy to reinfect the nation with the vice of opium-smoking in which, if we are to believe the Chinese Press, the highest officials in the land are implicate ed, The Manchu Emperors re-Juetaatly consented to legalize the traffic in opium only because they believed that a. properly controlled trade was preferable the "perfect carnival of smuggling" that existed between 1840 and 1858. A trade that flourishes on the vice of the people is always a bad trade, but conducted openly and under stringent regulations it is reduced to its least objectionable form. While the - nation proclaims, through its. representatives abroad, its determination to root the poppy out of existence and its officials at home are dyed to the elbows in illicit traffic in the noxious: rug the yellow streak in the national life is but too apparent. Herein is a fit subject for humiliation.
The lack of probity in the courts is another subject that night claim attention on a day lof national humiliation. A few }days ago we published the incident in which a Russian /motor-driver in Tientsin was involved. Inadvertently he collide ed with a riesha and killed. the unfortunate puller. He was ar-vested but proved to the satisfaction of the court. that it was an accident. His employ-lers offered compensation to the relatives of the victim and the lease was in a fair way of being settled, The Chinese court requested the presence of the Russian at an investigation which it proposed to make into the circumstances of the accident. He was sent from the foreign concession in the charge of a sergeant of police and under a promise of the court that he would returned. The promise was falsified and the Russian was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, with hardly the sem-blanco of a trial but with the proviso that for every dollar paid to the court a day of the sentence would be remitted. Being a Russian, a man without Jo country, he was subject to the Chinese court and there was no one to intervene on his behalf. He was down and therefore the feourt kicked him. To be sure, there was the promise made that he should be returned to the foreign concession whence raught but any excuse would serve to escape that obligation. Now, this, very possibly, seems a' smart piece of diplomacy to the men who earn fed it out but, actually, it humilfates China in the eyes of the world. Is it not recorded that someone asked Confucius regarding the progress his followers had made in their studies and he replied that while they ]were imperfect there were certain things they would not do 2 There are certain things that are not done and this is one of them. If the Chinese court was convinced [that an injustice had been done and desired a re-trial of the cuse, there were perfectly legitimate ways of bringing that about. To act in the underhand and deceitful manner re-ated above was simply bringing China into contempt and is a fitting subject for national humillation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.