p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 50. (12/22/1914)

Earlier text: Will America Ever Persecute?

Policies of China's New Government

By F. E. Stafford

Plans for Education — Railway Extension — Army and Navy — Foreign Trade — Development of Natural Resources — Suppression of Opium Traffic

By F. E. STAFFORD

This is the second of four articles Mr. Stafford has furnished on the great and very rapid developments in China. Last week he spoke more particularly in regard to the revolution that so quickly introduced a modern form of government and opened the way for civilization and progress. In the next paper, he will offer some very interesting suggestions in regard to the meaning and outcome of all this. Mr. Stafford's long residence in China, and his opportunities for study, have contributed to make his articles valuable.

WHEN the Pacific Mail steamship China left Shanghai August 15 on her way to America, there was an enthusiastic crowd of Chinese assembled at the jetty to speed the parting guests. The reason for this was the departure of about fifty picked students to be educated in American colleges, according to the agreement whereby America allows China to pay part of her Boxer indemnity in this manner. As this custom has been followed now for about five years, it in itself would not have been the occasion for so much enthusiasm; but there was a special reason this time, and that was that among the students going were ten girls.

BETTER OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN

This indeed is a new procedure for China, and speaks well for the future of Chinese women. It is only a matter of a few years since girl babies were thrown away, because they were not considered worth bringing up. Until the time of the revolution, there were very few girls in school outside of mission schools. Now we see the old, cruel practise of feet binding nearly abolished. We see girls sitting side by side with the boys in the lower grade schools. We hear, on every hand, of special efforts made to educate the girls of China in sewing, cooking, and the common branches; and it is only a matter of a few years till China's new woman will be prepared to take her rightful place in the home, in the community, and the social life of China's new civilization.

The new minister of education has issued regulations tending to general obligatory education for all children over eight years of age, and has instructed all district officials to procure at once the necessary statistics to carry out these regulations. In some places, they are also organizing free schools for children who are not able to pay tuition; but it is likely to be some time yet before a general system of free education can be inaugurated.

Hsu Shih-chang, secretary of state, in a recent interview, said: "The development of public instruction is now important. The greatest stress must be laid upon the elementary school. The revision of the schoolbooks, aiming at a uniform system of instruction, is now being carried out. The central government has made provision that the number of elementary schools in all districts be greatly increased, and that they fit themselves to the local conditions.

"The furthering of the middle schools has also been taken in hand. Several colleges have been established at various points by the government, and it is the purpose to increase the number just as fast as the necessary means can be raised. A college has been instituted at Canton which aims to perpetuate the best ancient Chinese learning, and also offers courses in the exclusive Chinese arts and trades."

CONFUCIUS AND THE NEW EDUCATION

A great agitation has been carried on, during the last few months, aiming to make the old Confucian classics compulsory as a component part of the present educational system. The president was approached on the matter, and he referred the question to the minister of education. The latter announces that "suitable extracts from the old classical books of Confucius and Mencius will be inserted in the new elementary school-books."

RAILWAYS

During 1913, the four railway lines in the north of China made a profit for the new republic of $13,804,000; while the eleven lines in central and southern China, some of them not wholly completed yet, aggregated a loss of $4,340,000, thus leaving over nine million dollars profit. It is the policy of China to cover the country with a network of trunk lines just as fast as possible, and work is actually progressing on about a dozen different lines to-day. Most of these are built by foreign countries, which take a long-period mortgage on the property, and China has opportunity to pay for the line gradually until it eventually becomes the property of the Chinese government.

MODERNIZING THE ARMY AND NAVY

Early in the year, a big military conference was held in Pekin, and plans were laid for the complete modernization of the army and navy at as early a date as is practical considering the expense involved. The republic was divided into several large districts, each under the command of a military general, who in turn is directly under the command of the president. Thus a practical state of martial law is in effect all the time, although the actual working out of the policy presents many local difficulties. In every important center in the republic where there was doubt of the loyalty of the soldiers, the whole personnel has been replaced with northern soldiers. Thus Shanghai not only had the old soldiers removed, but the entire police force in that part of the city which is not controlled by the International Concession was changed. In front of the house where we live, where there used to be a local policeman who was promoted to that position from the ranks of the peanut venders, there now stands a trim, wide-awake Pekin soldier, with a four-foot club in the daytime, and at night a modern Mauser rifle loaded with real bullets.

The war department has bought several aeroplanes during the last year, and opened a school near Pekin where instruction will be given to aviators, thus aiming to establish a flying corps in connection with the army.

FOREIGN TRADE

The last few years have shown a marked increase in China's foreign import trade, the figures for last year being an increase of nearly one hundred million dollars gold over the amount ten years ago. Of this amount, Japan supplies about twenty per cent, and this notwithstanding there exists a strong prejudice against Japan and Japanese goods.

The fact is, China wants cheap goods, as the great mass of her people are not able to buy luxuries; and Japan excels in the production of a cheap line of almost every article that China calls for, and being situated so near, she always has her goods on hand when there is any one ready to buy.

After the revolution, there was an immediate demand for straw hats, caps, and leather shoes; and Japan has produced these articles for China by the millions, and reaped a rich harvest as a result of improving the opportunity.

Great Britain comes next, supplying fifteen per cent of China's imports. Russia and Germany are about even, but the United States supplies only eight per cent of the total.

PETROLEUM WELLS AND STANDARD OIL

Early in the year, an agreement was made with the Chinese government by which the Standard Oil Company secures the right to make a thorough investigation of the fields in north China, which are believed to be among the most important and extensive in the world. According to the terms of the agreement, if oil is found in quantities sufficient to make the working of the fields profitable, a Sino-American company is to be immediately formed, in which the Chinese government will be allotted thirty-seven per cent of the shares, with an option, under certain conditions, on further interests. The controlling interest, however, is to remain in the hands of the American corporation. The agreement is reported to be for sixty years; and during this period, no other foreign country will be allowed to work oils or their products in the districts specified.

A large force of picked oil drillers have arrived from California and Texas, and they have started overland for the scene of the oil fields, taking two thousand tons of drilling machinery with them. They are encountering great difficulty in getting the machinery transported, as there are no facilities for carrying such heavy materials overland. They had assembled four hundred Chinese carts to carry their drills through Honan and Shensi, when the government troops from Pekin in pursuit of White Wolf, the noted robber, came along, and the general immediately commandeered the carts; so at last reports the machinery was still waiting. Now that White Wolf has been beheaded (or at least the Chinese government paid $50,000 for a head supposed to be that of White Wolf), very likely the Standard Oil Company can get through to Shensi and start boring for oil.

THE HUAI RIVER PROJECT

The opening of this project marks, as Dr. Reinsch, United States minister at Pekin, says, a new era in Chinese developments. This new project is expected to reclaim one million acres of fertile soil, and materially improve nine million acres more, so that they will yield two or three crops a year. It will save millions of people from the horrors of continual famine and starvation, and transform a barren wilderness into a garden spot where the natives can live in peace and happiness, supported by the industry of their own hands.

This project is promoted and financed by the American Red Cross Society. Attention was first called to the need two years ago, at the time of the great famine in north China, when the Red Cross Society sent out an American transport loaded with flour to relieve the terrible distress of the thousands who were daily dying. At that time, Mr. C. D. Jameson, a noted American surveyor, was asked to make a survey of the district, and report on the feasibility of undertaking a conservancy scheme which would control the waters of the rivers in that great region, so that instead of destroying the country by periodical floods, they could be made to give life to the vegetation where it was cultivated, and irrigate large sections where nothing was raised.

He made a very full report to the Chinese government; but unfortunately, on account of the revolution and lack of means, nothing came of it at the time. The matter was not allowed to drop, however; and this year an agreement was made whereby the American Red Cross Society is to lend to the Chinese government $20,000,000 gold, at five per cent interest, secured on all the government revenues derivable or now derived from government lands in the conservancy area, and all the additional revenues which may in the future accrue to the government as a result of the conservancy work.

MAGNANIMITY OF THE RED CROSS SOCIETY

The terms of this agreement are quite different from those of the Standard Oil Company. It would be hard to find a more humanitarian project anywhere. The Red Cross Society deliberately gives China twenty million dollars, and carries through a project for her which not only will enable her to pay back the principal with interest, but will give her an enormous permanent revenue, besides saving millions of her people from starvation and the grave. She asks for no mortgage on any of China's territory or sources of income other than that which will be developed by the conservancy work.

That the work will be carried out in the best possible manner, has been assured by the fact that the American Congress passed a bill in May releasing Col. William Siebert, an army engineer who was assistant to Colonel Goethals in the construction of the Panama Canal, to superintend the work of the conservancy commission in China. Associated with him is Mr. A. P. Davis, chief engineer of the United States government reclamation service, and Prof. Daniel W. Mead, a leading American expert on hydraulic engineering, who has had recent experience with the Ohio Flood Commission.

OPIUM SUPPRESSION

On July 30, the minister of the interior announced that the poppy culture will have been suppressed all over China before the end of this year, and that it is hoped the importation of opium can be prohibited after the middle of next year.

The last year has seen increased vigilance on the part of the officials, who seemed determined to stamp out completely from China the growth of the poppy plant. At some places, force of arms has been necessary; but this has been used, and several more provinces have now been declared free from the poppy, and British orders have been issued stopping importation into these provinces.

As Great Britain insists on enforcing her treaty privileges to the letter, and continues to force Indian opium on the people as long as she can find one stalk of poppy in existence, it is necessary for the Chinese government first to declare the province free. The British then appoint inspectors, who, judging by the time they take to go over a province, do their best to find the poppy. When they report favorably, and not till then, a closing order is issued.

Fukien province was the last to be declared free, and a great celebration was held

at Amoy May 1 to commemorate the event. One thousand six balls of opium, together with pipes and other articles valued at fifty thousand dollars, were publically burned at noon. There was an immense crowd present, including the officials, the gentry, and foreign spectators. The schools closed, and the students marched in uniform to the Antiopium Society headquarters, where they rendered patriotic songs and other music. After this, they paraded through the streets, displaying flags and national banners; and the celebration closed with a speech by Mr. Ding Neng-gong, commissioner of foreign affairs, who was the champion of opium destruction.

A second great opium burning took place at Pekin on May 21, just outside the "Temple of Heaven." At this time, it is said, some of the most beautiful cloisonne lamps, and rare, costly pipes were burned.

SHOULD INSPIRE THE CIVILIZED WORLD

One thing about this opium campaign which impresses every one who has witnessed it, is the sincerity of the Chinese people in their efforts to strike it out root and branch. There is no quibbling about the price, though it means the loss of millions of dollars of government revenue, at a time when China most needs the money. What a wonderful example heathen China has set before the civilized(?) world in the accomplishment of this stupendous task!

Less than ten years ago, word was sent out from Pekin that it was the intention of the Chinese empire to stamp out, root and branch, the opium habit, which had as a mighty octopus fastened its tentacles upon the souls of the four hundred million people of the nation, and was mercilessly drinking their life-blood, and every year dragging them down to a living hell, whose end is the grave and destruction. When she approached the nations of the world for co-operation in the matter of not bringing in any more foreign opium, she was told that they had the right under their treaties, and would continue to import opium as long as the people would buy it, and if she wanted to do any reform work, she should teach her people not to buy the drug.

In the face of these tremendous odds, she went to work to accomplish her task, and is within sight of the goal to-day. This endeavor has been likened by one writer to an effort to stop the liquor traffic in four countries, each with a population equal to that of the United States; but he adds that the United States would not undertake such a proposition, because that is free(?), and her citizens would resent any infringement of their liberty(?). Is it liberty or license?

HOLIDAY LIST

By Pacific Press Publishing Assn.

For Father: Steps to Christ For Mother: Mount of Blessing For Aunt Mary: Christ Our Saviour Cousin Sam (16) Elo the Eagle Harry (11) Best Stories Maud (6) New Testament Primer

Eleventh-Hour Suggestions for Your Holiday List

Quite perplexing to know just what to give, isn't it? Not so, however, once you know about those beautiful small books for children, youths, and adults. Here are a few of them:

(1) Best Stories from the Best Book..................$0.75 (2) Christ Our Saviour................................... .75 (3) Elo the Eagle and Other Stories................... 1.00 (4) Gospel Primer No. 2................................. .50 (5) House We Live In..................................... 1.00 (6) Making Home Happy................................. .75 (7) Making Home Peaceful............................... .75 (8) New Testament Primer............................... .50 (9) Our Paradise Home.................................... .50 (10) Steps to Christ......................................... .75 (11) Those Bible Readings............................... .75 (12) Uncle Ben's Cobblestones......................... 1.00 (13) Story of Pitcairn Island.............................. 1.00

Nos. 1, 4, and 8 are especially suited to the smaller children; Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13 to the older children and youth; and Nos. 9 and 10, to adults.

They possess a rare combination — educational, moral, and intensely interesting. This is true of all. Those for the small children contain colored pictures and large type, and the stories are transcendently more captivating and entertaining than most books for children. We submit as evidence of their merit the fact that over 2,000,000 copies have been sold. Your selection of one or more will reflect your good judgment. Orders filled promptly by our depository in your own state.

Pacific Press Publishing Assn. Mountain View, California

Parental Responsibility

By Mary Alice Hare Loper

Monumental Example of a Faithful, Successful Parent — Degeneracy of the Age Reflects the Failures of Fathers and Mothers — Children That Are Trained Right, Go Right

By MARY ALICE HARE LOPER

WHEN God chose Abraham to be the head of the Christian household of earth, it was no haphazard choice that was made. Instead, He says, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." Every one who keeps "the way of the Lord" to-day, belongs in a spiritual sense to the family of faithful Abraham, and is following his blessed example. His keen sense of the responsibility of fatherhood has made Abraham distinguished through the lengthened period of four thousand years.

DID NOT DRINK NOR SMOKE

Abraham did not drink nor smoke nor chew nor swear. He did not join any men's clubs for the purpose of having some regular excuse for spending his evenings away from home, nor did he become submerged in politics to the neglect of his household obligations. Although he was very wealthy, the chief desire of his heart was not found in the accumulation of flocks and herds and silver and gold for his own selfish enjoyment.

What a splendid opportunity Abraham had for making a magnificent home in the land of Canaan, if he had chosen to do so! He might perhaps have founded a walled city to perpetuate his memory, if his heart had been given to that kind of fame. But somehow Abraham was very peculiar. He chose to "camp out" all his life, while "he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."

It was my privilege recently to visit some of the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, perhaps representatives of the oldest living monuments of earth at the present time. Some way there is a divine atmosphere about these grand old trees, which instinctively draws one a little nearer heaven, — an atmosphere not associated with the most splendid palaces of man's construction. It would surely be a hardened atheist who could pitch his insignificant tent among these grand old living towers, and with his face turned upward in an effort to see the topmost branches hundreds of feet above him — it would surely be a hardened atheist who could ever again echo as his belief, "There is no God."

SOCIETY COULD NOT CHARM HER AWAY

If Sarah had been like many a twentieth century society woman, she might easily have said to her wealthy husband: "Now see here, Abraham! I have lived long enough in these dirty old tents, away off here in the country, and we are plenty able to have a respectable home in the city. But if we can't have that, I shall go back to Egypt, and enjoy myself where people live in some kind of style, and know how to appreciate others." But Sarah was not given to frivolity. She shared Abraham's faith, and did not find her longings satisfied with anything which this earth could afford. She and Abraham were human, and therefore made some mistakes; but they desired to be true to God, and not to murmur at His providences.

Men and women who wish to devote their time to fashion and folly in the congested centers of population, would better seriously consider what marriage means before entering upon that sacred relationship; for parents have for their solving the most difficult problems that ever fall to the lot of mortals, and those who are averse to putting the best thought of which they are capable upon these questions of such vital importance to the home would better never enter the marriage relation. A family reared to disobedience, irreverence, and sin, is the greatest failure of which mortals are capable.

FAILURE THROUGH SURROUNDINGS

Many parents are making a failure of their work to-day because of being located where their children are surrounded with evil. Abraham lived in the country. God Himself led him there as the very best place for the accomplishing of his life-work. And Abraham made a grand success both spiritually and financially. He found his joy in laying up his treasures in heaven; and when he enters upon that life which is to come, he will have a mansion that will be his through all eternity, which will far surpass anything this earth now affords.

But his own future reward was not the only consideration of Abraham. It is not the chief consideration of any one who now follows his example. The first work of Abraham's life was the saving of his household. No missionary work for others was allowed to eclipse this. He believed implicitly that the head of a household can not shirk his responsibilities, and at the same time make a success of life. He saw in his children the germs of great possibilities, but he believed that if those possibilities were ever to be realized, he had a very important part to act in their development.

Abraham taught his children reverence for gray hairs. Isaac did not approach his wealthy father with any such request as: "Say, dad, give me some dough. I'm going to the city to have a good time. You see I've stayed so close to these old tents, I just must have a little vacation." No, Isaac never uttered words of that kind to his father, whom he dearly loved and cheerfully obeyed. When good old Abraham took Isaac, at the command of God, expecting to offer him as a sacrifice upon a lonely mountain, Isaac might easily have objected, and said, if he had been trained in the vernacular of the present day, with all that goes with it, "O, no, dad! I never will submit to anything like that." It seems sacrilegious to use words of this character in connection with Bible stories, and yet such language is of common occurrence in professedly Christian American homes of to-day.

Ah, how different are the homes of the twentieth century from that of Abraham! Neglect on the part of parents to give to their children the training that is their due, is very conspicuous. Disobedience to parents, as foretold in Holy Writ (2 Tim. 3:2), is a striking characteristic of the present age. The little three-year-old who complacently swears upon the street, is a living monument of parental neglect. The boy who smokes, shows a sad lack of parental care. And the child who revels in "yellow-backs" and immoral shows, does so because he has been neglected, — has been allowed to form a mental appetite for that which is evil.

TEACHING BY EXAMPLE

Home example is much more far-reaching in its influence than many suppose. The boy who sees his father smoke and drink will probably go and do likewise. The girl who sees her father and mother set a godless example, will, in all probability, go in the society of young people who are traveling the downward road. Young people's sense of propriety, of economy, of health, of happiness, is not sufficient to cause them to realize what a terrible menace tobacco, liquor, and all their attendant evils are to the happiness of the home. No youth can smoke vile cigarettes as a constant habit, and preserve his integrity. He gradually loses his sense of honor, while lying, stealing, and immorality in time may become a part of his character.

Cigarettes are a curse of the American home. They are robbing our youth of both spiritual and mental power, wholly unfitting them for places of responsibility in the great needy world. Parents should be alarmed over the dangers of this monster evil, and do all in their power to subdue it. That castle of happiness which harbors within its walls a lighted cigarette, will sometime go up in smoke, leaving its former admirers to mourn over its ashes. It is the solemn duty of parents to warn their boys and girls against the unspeakable evils of cigarettes, tobacco, liquor, and immorality.

MAY OVERCOME HEREDITY

Some children are blessed with better ancestry than others, which means that some parents have less difficult problems to solve than others. However, it is not necessary that a young man should go to the penitentiary just because his great grandfather did so. That divine echo which has reverberated for thousands of years, is just as true to-day as when it was first uttered: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This blessed text does not say, "Train up a child

whose pedigree is faultless, and you may make a success of your effort." It permits of no "ifs," no provisos, no exceptions. It is a divine statement, and therefore has no doubt connected with it. Every child who is not rightly trained, is the loser; and every parent who neglects his God-given task, does so at the risk of his children's eternal salvation.

"O, but," says one, "I haven't time for all this rigmarole of training." But the fact is, parents have no time for anything to the neglect of this. Missionary work of the highest order begins at home. In these days of business rush and society whirl, it requires just as much time to make a success of child training as it did in the days of Abraham. The fact that this work requires so much time, is why God gives children exclusively to their parents for a series of years, that the holy precepts of righteousness may be taught to them.

NEGLECTED FOR BUSINESS

The American home is neglected to-day because of business, politics, social affairs, and general pleasure seeking. Disobedience and disrespect on the part of children attest to this fact. Pure Christian principles as applied by faithful Abraham, are greatly needed to-day to straighten out the tangled threads in the web of home life. O that parents might all appreciate the worth of their precious children as did that devoted Roman mother, Cornelia, who, when the jewels of a wealthy Campanian lady were shown her, said, as she proudly turned to her two beautiful sons, "These are my jewels"!

Three Leaders

By Editor

Shall Peace Follow This War?

It will; the Bible says so. The January Signs Magazine cites the texts and elucidates them. During that short period of time when God will be doing a mighty finishing work, the world will say, Wars are forever ended, and the millennium is about to be realized. If the masses could only have access to the message which this article contains, what a blessed thing it would be!

"How Do the Beasts Groan!"

The prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease among live stock, which caused our government recently to place a quarantine on so many states, reminds one very forcibly of the graphic words of the prophet Joel. There are two main points in this book. One is the destruction of crops by insects, droughts, etc., resulting in suffering among men and beasts. Through the study of such clear prophecies as these, many students of the Bible have reached the conclusion that it is not safe to continue the use of meat, and thousands of them are adopting the vegetarian diet in consequence. These thoughts are developed in the January Signs Magazine under the above title.

The Nations Are Angry

Some new thoughts under a very old title. Of late the Germans have been asking themselves how it is that they were unaware of the abominable character of the British. On the other hand, the British have come to regard the Germans as devils incarnate. Has Rev. 11:18 ever been truer than at present? In this, as in all other articles, Scripture is freely quoted, for after all, it is not so much what the editor of the Signs Magazine says as "what saith the Lord" about these things.

The three articles thus briefly mentioned are but a part of this excellent number. Following are the titles of seven others. The titles will suggest the importance and timeliness of the articles. "Luxury, Profligacy, Then War"; "Satan's Arrest and Imprisonment"; "Human Suffering"; "None of the Wicked Shall Understand"; "A Poem of Hate"; "The Lapsed Brotherhood of Man"; "The Ledger of Heaven."

New Year's Suggestions

That you subscribe now, and that you make holiday gifts of subscriptions to relatives and friends. Single subscription, one year, $1.00; five or more to one or different addresses, 60c each for one year.

That you secure a quantity of this January number to sell or give to your neighbors. 5 to 40 copies cost but 5c a copy; 50 or more, 4c a copy.

Our depository will supply your wants promptly.

Signs of the Times Magazine Mountain View, California

FOR SALE

A six room house, with all modern conveniences, on one half acre, a very desirable corner facing S. D. A. academy, very cheap at $2,000, and you name the terms.

Also ten acre home, one and one half miles from academy, in alfalfa, fruit, and berries, with eight room house, large barn, hen houses, etc. Large pumping plant for irrigation. A good investment at $5,000. Charles E. Holmes, R. 4, Box 26, Lodi, California.

SANITARIUM COOKING OIL

"The Oil of Quality"

Pure Cotton Seed Oil direct from refinery. Sweet, wholesome, and delicious.

4 1-gallon cans, $3.20; 5-gallon can, $3.50; 2 5-gallon cans, $6.90; 30-gallon barrel, $17.85; 50-gallon barrel, $28.25. Cash with order.

SANITARIUM COOKING OIL Co. Louisville, Ky.

THE THREE BEST WAYS

BETWEEN

California and the East

The CENTRAL ROUTE

Less than three days to Chicago

The SOUTHERN ROUTE

All rail or via the palatial Southern Pacific steamers between New Orleans and New York

The SHASTA ROUTE

Via Portland or the North

The best of equipment and service Protected throughout by automatic block signals

INQUIRE OF ANY AGENT, OR

MR. C. S. FEE General Passenger Agent San Francisco, California

SOUTHERN PACIFIC

Continue reading: Pope Benedict and This War