Amid all this muddle, chaos and Umest, the Motte foreign' settlements, at the treaty ports stand—or have hitherto stood—as little oases; calm, well-managed, prosperous, They are the fulcrum of the foreign trade, and in all the troubles of recent youre have served as points d'appui through which the foreign trade!—on which millions of Chinese depend—can be carried on. By th irony of fate, these small foreig: settlements—the result originally of Chinese contempt for and desire te segregate the foreigner living in the! country—have become the only: solid thing in China, and places of refuge not only for the foreign merchant, but also for vast crowds of Chinese who have flocked in to the only; Places where they can find decent government and protection from the cruelty and extortion of their own officials. Cihnese political refugees! also are found in large numbers in these settlements: these are the political failures who seek sanctuary here, men who have ventured large things and failed; and—political failure in China means despoliation, certainly; death, very probably, And yet it is this treaty-port system which the students—and al Jarge number of bankers and merchants seem to sympathize _with them—seek to abolish. The idea is certainly a foolish one, and no doubt to many foreigners' knowing China must appear quite me plicable. And yet if one st Tecent Chinese history there is mu in it to account for these strange PPoceclings. The revolution of 1911 which abolished the Manchu! monarchy. and established: the so-called republic, took away the ol4 government controls, which, bad as they were, were better than nothing, and put nothing in their place. The country chas become the -plaything of the political-and -military adventurer; the predatory soldier, the! brigand and the pirate ravage the country; and the struggle to live, always 'a very serious matter ini China, fas become more desperate than ever.
Student's xconome Handicap The student class, imbibing a few crude democratic ideas from American and British missionary schools, find that their political ideas, elementary as they are, are far ahead of the economic developnent of their country. Economically, except for such small efforts as the foreigner can make, the country hardly moves at all. Government does nothing for the people, who are too backward to do anything, for themselves. Roads, railways, mines, _river-training—all these things, where they exist at all, are due to foreign initiative. 'The' dent finds no post for himself; whi la there for a foreign-educated to do? There are no professions the western sense: Government is u the hands of the tuchun, with Jcbs only for friends. There is only} misery, starvation and bitter discontent staring the student in the face. No wonder that here is a field for the Bolshevist agent and that he has fully availed himself of it. Point out to the half-starved, half-educated student that it ist foreigner who is robbing him, and it is eagerly believed. If he' only' knew it, the foreigner is really: his could, turn the energy he displays in attacking foreigners towards reforming the series of his country and establishing a government, there would be! ra in the future, in with he must throw off his Bolshevist advisers, and put i trust in those who are his real friends, the trading countries the West. The West needs Chini much more does China need. Wert. England has, perhaps, mors than all other countries, a\ real strong sympathy with China, Thers fy much in the English character that appeals to the Chinese, and there are few Englishmen indeed? who have lived their lives in China who have not a strong affection fo. the Chinese. We wish to, and ble to, help them. Let thei off this foolish air of hostility, and come down to the realities of ndship. Let them come to us with outstretched hand and ask to help them. Most surely we will do %0,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.