Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1900)
County Court-House, O’Neill. THE CRISIS IN CHINA Rev. J. H. Worley, a former mis sionary to China, in Sunday’s State Journal, writes: “Three hundred and fifty years ago the Manehu Tartars, a warlike race from the north, conquered China. Since the Chinese have been ruled by the Tartars. In order to placate the Chinese about half of the government patronage has been dis tributed among them, while the Tar tars have kept the military power in their own hands. Another safeguard was the settlement of several of tens of thousands of Tartars in the capital of each province, who, though fol lowing the ordinary vocations of life, received grants from the imperial treasury, and hence are ready to as sist the government against any up risings on the part of the Chinese. “Soon after the Tartar invasion patriotic Chinese organized a secret society for the purpose of overthrow ing the Tartar dynasty. The society continued to spread, and long ago reached every city and hamlet in the empire and its members are number ed by the millions. All classes, from the highest to the lowest, are enroll ed, though usually men in official positions do not openly train with < its members, except perhaps in extreme cases like the present crisis. However, the most active emissar es are expectant officials—that is, men who have passed the civil service examination but have not received appointments. This class is very large as there are several times as j many men as officers, so that multi plied thousands after spending years of hard study are doomed to a life time of bitter disappointment. These men have given the government much trout le in the past by means of the secret society and the common people over whom they exercise influence in their own neigoborhoods. “During all these centuries the government has not been unmindful OI me uauger uum tmo uj g and from time to time has used drastic measures for its suppression but without effect. Whenever the native has been engaged in a war with a foreign country or the power of the government, for any reason, weakened, the secret society men have seized the opportunity for an outbreak. Several times they nearly accomplished their object, viz., thej overthrow of the dynasty. At each uprising they assumed a new jaame (being careful usually to select a good name) and setting forth as their object something quite differ ent from their original purpose, and not n©ce sarily distasteful to the sovereign, but which if unsuccessful would, they hoped, result in the downfall of the government. “Hence the boxer movement is really the old society under a new name striving ostensibly to suppress dangerous innovations and expel Europeans; a very laudable purpose in the eyes of the empress dowager who says they are true, loyal citizens, and who c ishiered Aeneral Nieh for killing some of them. I understand the name of the society is Li Hwo Chuan—Trutn, peace and palms; palms probably meaning industry. What noble objects to tight for! A new, i atriovc society, says Minister Wu. Patriotic, I admit; but not new except in iame and object of its attack. Keeping this in mind and remembering the same organization several times shook the Dragon > Throne before European merchants and Protestant missionaries took up their abode in the flowery kingdom, we shall readily see that the latter are no more responsible for the boxer outbreak than the ministers are for the outrages in the city of St. Louis. “There are other factors entering into the present disturbances, some of which I shall mention. The Japan-China war five years ago was the beginning of radical changes in the latter country. As a result of the war China was forced to permit the exportation of rice, something she had never done before. Very soon the price of rice advanced. Such prices have seldom if ever been known. Prices on nearly all com modities have advanced for the same period. Except in the case of rice i is not so easy to disdover the cause, and yet it is only a repetition of what has transpired in other lands. Europeans in China sub mitted to the inevitable aDd raised wages, but the Chinese have not done so generally. Hence there has been a long season of hard times for wage earners. Had ther been universal advance in wages com mensurate with the high prices so that laboring people really would have been as well off as before, the cry of hard times and the spirit of unrest would still have been inevit able, because the people have been so long accustomed to consider the price of rice as the index to general conditions, they could not bell ve that times were good when rice was dear. In other words, if rice is cheap times are good and people are happy; if rice is dear times are hard and there is discontent. This opinion is so deep seated that farm ers who have rice to sell complain of hard times when they are selling at high prices and realizing large returns for their labor. So far as I am aware this question has not been mentioned before by any of the writers on the boxer revolt and I am sure it is one of the most important immediate causes or me oumreais. “Since the war between China and Japan there has been a concensus of I opinion among Chinese and Europ eans that the government was simply bolstered up by the powers, and if radical reforms were not speedily introduced the dynasty would be overthrown. A.ccordidgly the true spirit of reform was begotten in the breasts of a few young men who had been influenced more or less by western science and civilization, and they decided to reach if possible the ear of the emperor. They were sue cessful and the son of heaven im | bibed the same spirit. Radical re forms, such as the world has seldom witnessed, were decided upon. | Whereupon the empress dowager, backed by most of the high officials, with high handed usurpation depos ed the Emperor Kuangsu and be headed as many of the reformers as they could lay hands upon. From this memorable act the drama haH advanced with logical precision to the boxer revolt. “The scene has not been devoid of light and shadow. A bright ray of hope shot across the eastern horizon when news of Admiral Dewey’s epoch making victory reached China With one voice the progressive Chinese exclaimed, ‘Our country is not to be dimembered and Amerioa is our saviour.’ That is, America is a new power thrust into the eastern question which will be the balance of power in favor of the open door of commerce, civilization and right eousness and the integrity of China. I here was no wavering from this belief until war broke out in South Africa, when a feeling of appreben siou began to come over the people It was hoped that Eugland, regard ed as China’s chief support, would not be long eugaged with the Boers, but as time and events advauced the struggle iu South Africa seemed likely to be prolonged, interest rap idly spread throughout Cbiua. It is true there had beeu disturbances prior to this iu the northwest, prob ably due to the reactionary policy of the empress dowager, who iinmedi ately after the emperor was de throued cancelled the edicts of the emperor, and from that time to this in private and public she lias not concealed her bitter opposition to everything foreign. “With this old society thoroughly organized, the people maddened by hard times, the empress dowager gone mad and Russia conniving the boxer revolt is no surprise. A new -society could not have been so quick ly and thoroughly organized, though new elements, as I have said, enter into the present disturbance. This much is plain, the empress dowager is opposed to Europeans and pro gress and the boxers are opposed to her and under the present stress are probably also opposed to Europeans. They may believe, and perhaps do, that the quickest way to accomplish their end will be to bring their gov ernment into collision with western nations. They certainly do believe whatever comes in the future noth ing can be worse than the Tartar dynasty. The empress dowager and her advisors cannot, I think, believe the boxers other than the old society, but they have planned to use them together with the imper ial forces to distroy their common enemy, the Europeans, who, many of the people beleive, are the cause of the hard times. ‘And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between themselves.’ “The boxers will be suppressed and surely this time the powers will not be hoodwinked by profused promises by the empress dowager and she be allowed to remain. For future peace and safety it is even more imperative that she and her advisors be destroyed than that the boxers be suppressed. The difficulty in the present task depends much upon the viceroys in the southern provinces. It is to be hoped that the messages they have sent to vari ous nations express their real in tentions. If so, and they remain firm the problem will be greatly simplified. ‘-.’.lit what of the future? This question comes with greater pertiu ance to the United States than to any other nation, strange as it may appear. Two years and a half ago no one dreamed that the United States would be the most potent factor in settling China’s difficulties. If this government will go one step farther than to save life and property and share the responsibility with other nations of reorganizing the government of China the question of the future will be simple. And I believe when the time comes our government, as in the past, will not shirk any duty in the interest of op pressed peoples and universal peace. If she fails to assume her share of the responsibility there is great probability of war between some of the other nations; but if she goes forward fearlessly the combination opposed to the dismemberment of China and in favor of a protector ate would be so strong that those nations seeking more land will not dare to oppose. To dismember China will be a more difficult task than many suppose; greater even tnan to suppress the boxers. And should it be dismembered there would not only be universal discon tent on the part of the Chinese, but constant friction between the nations governing the several district. Amer ica could never maintain the open door in these petty dependencies of other nations, but in the reorganized, reformed China there would not only be the open door for commerce, but the open door for progress, civiliza tion and Christianty. ‘'Marvelous as has been our iu crease in trade with China the past five years it is nothing compared to what we shall witness in the near future if China is not dismembered but compelled to adapt, herself to the demands of the age, If no mis take is made by our government now the Pacific ocean will be the greatest highway of commerce and the United States the greatest, com meroial uatiou iu the world before twenty.fi\e years. Together with this there will be such an opportunity for missionary opperatious an has not been afforded the church in any age. riltrmi>j(t to Urave. „ For over forty years Alfred, tie Mus sel’s disciples La re made an annual ’i'ST'tnage »o his iamb at Pere-La mlse. In the beginning of "Le Joll Mois de Mai.’* The willow tree which t nds close to his grave—the “light ■.hade’ he so pathetically requested— was brought from South America by a )occ, who undertook the task In order t». fulfill the desire of De Musset, ■whose works he revered. The poet's name is Hllarip Escasuba, and the tree came from Parana. Longot Lightning Rod. Bavaria boasts that it has the long* est lightning conductor in the world. It rises some yards above the top of the meteorological station on the Zug spitze, the highest point in the Ger man empire, and runs down the side of the mountain to the bottom of the Hollenthal, where there is running water all the year round. The length of the rod 's five and a half kilometers, nearly three miles and a half. Agricultural Students from Argentine. The twenty or more young gentle men from the Argentine Republic who have recently come to the United States to study agriculture and stock raising at the expense of their govern ment are now in Baltimore, Philadel phia and Brooklyn, diligently learning the English language, in order that they may make the best use of the ad vantages that are to be offered them next fall in the agricultural colleges they will enter. Abstracting Co Compiles Abstracts of Title ONLY COMPLETE SET OF AB STRACT ROOKS JNJIOLT COUNTY O’NKILL, NEB. ALACE ® MEAT <D MARKET MEAT, GAME, FISH FOWLS, LARD, Etc. HIDES AND FURS BOUGHT. *** PRO DUCE TAKEN IN EXCHANGE F. M. BRITTELL HOC REAL ESTATE. CATTLE AND SHEEP RANCHES GRAIN AND MAY FARMS For Sale <* and Lease PRICES LOW AND TERMS EASY .. I M. LYONS EMMET, NEB. i oooocoooo* • » ♦♦♦♦♦ /Vegetable Preparation for As similating the Food andRegula ling the Stomachs andDowcis of Promotes Digestion,Checrful nessandRcst.Contains neither Opium .Morphine nor Mineral. Not Narcotic. Hmv»*Ol*1krSANUILPtrCBUl Pump/ctn Smi~ Mx.Smnm * JFto€kmU» SJft - Artist Sttd » Jim*mint - IH (jsrdanatrStJn * fti/mSfeJ - Ctnrifsctl £if*r . hmtnyrMn ttmxsr A perfect Remedy for Constipa tion, Sour Stomach.Diarrhoca, Worms .Convulsions .Feverish ness and Loss OF SLEEP. Facsimile Signature of new Vork. 8 EXACT COPY OF WRAPPER. .. ■ — Z& W For Infants and Child ren. The Kind You Have Always Bought A FARMING GROUP (Painted by Julian Dupres.) /I must beautiful picture for the heme. This masterpiece represents a family of peasants in the harvist field. It. is noonday. Not a breath of air is stirring, and away off in the dint ance where the villagers are holding their fair a balloon bangs in the sky. They gaze iu mute astonishment., wonder, awe and admiration, revealed in their faces and attitudes. It iH the work of a master hand. 'This is r> - produced in colors, 22x30 inches, in a marvelous oil painting ilTic.l. You cannot, buy one for $2. We bought them in ten thousand lots, so can offer it mailed in a tube, post, paid, with three months trial subscription to THE_WEEKLY__BEE FOR 25C. Address the Bee Publishing company, 1751, Farnaiu street, Omaha, Neb. Wholesale Prices to Users. Our General Catalogue quotes them. Send 15c to partly pay postage or expressage and we’ll send jou one. It has 1100 pages, 17,000 illustrations and quotes prices on nearly 70,000 things that you cat and use and wear. We constantly carry in stock all articles quoted. FRONTIER $1.50 st Tear ’sxWBwmmmmm A Dictionary of ENGLISH, Biography, Geogfrophy, Fiction, etc. WThat bettor investment could bo i:vi:i a copy of the International 1 Ti..« rival quarto volume i t a v:u t storehouse of valuable information arranged in a convenient. form for hand, eye, and mind. It i.t more widely used a:< standardantliordv than uny other dictionary inthc world. It ihoul.1 bo i.i cverv household. Also Webetrrs Collegia’..: Clct.cr.rr7 vita a Scottish Glossaly, 1 io. “ J irst clast..1 > .uul...,, b.co.iti t i;aa 1.1 l.uc.’’ •’'Alt" t V': f > 'jy1* ...T^,pr,r—r > oput?. ;. m-m* '*1" // you want a pretty job of printing iiuve Tilt f rontier^ do it Jor you. Stationery, books, begat blanks, posters, cards and invitations.