The Topeka state journal. [volume], August 11, 1900, LAST EDITION, Editorial Section, Image 10

About The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

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TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11, 1900.'
THE TRAIL OF
IN CHINA'S
THE Chinese have- been brutally
frank in chronicling the misdeeds
of their sovereigns, for even the
reigning rulers could not pervert the
statements of their historians, which
were not published until the dynasties
of which they wrote had ended.
One of the first instances mentioned of
punishment meted out to negligent offi
cials was the famous case of Hi and
Ho, astronomers, who went on a spree
and omitted to notify their emperor of
an imminent eclipse of the moon. It,
therefore, took hiin unawares, so that
he could not avert the impending dis-.
aster by having his archers shoot off
arrows at the big dragon which was de
vouring the sun, and he ordered them
THE NAEEOW NAKKOW PASS.
About a day's journey north of Peking lies that famous Nankow pass in
the mountains, through wtilh lh Tartars invaded China and eventually car
ried their arms triumphantly all over the country. The road thither, which is
wild and broken all the way, is traversed by hordes of camels, mules and
horses, for it is the great caravan route toward Siberia. Over this road the
Kussian army may march, if it carries out its scheme of invasion in connec
tion with the Chinese disturbance. ,
The Nankow pass is sometimes called In Russia the northwestern gateway
to China, and in addition to being a natural pass through the mountain range
it is the ancient gateway through the great wall, that mighty engineering
work 1,500 miles in length and more than 2,000 years old. The pass, which is
15 miles in length, is rugged and grand in its wild scenery, passing most of
the way through a sort of canyon and beneath great, frowning cliffs.
Beyond the pass lie the great grass plains of Mongolia, where the Chinese
horses are raised and whence, centuries since, came the invading Mongols
under Genghis Khan and his successors, who changed the character of China.
to turn their weapons against the un
lucky Hi and Ho, who were promptly
executed. The Chinese astronomers
khew what to expect after that, for an
imperial edict proclaimed that "when
they give notice of an eclipse too soon,
let them be put to death without any
forgiveness, and when after the time
let the same thing happen to them."-
That event occurred about 2150 B. C,
and a thousand years later the imperial
heart had not softened, apparently, for
mention is made of one Chow Sin (per
haps a remote ancestor of the modern
"Ah Sin"), who was the first to use
ivory chopsticks and who was so cruel
that all his subjects feared him. He
became Infatuated with an abandoned
woman, and to. please her invented
several kinds of torment, with which
he experimented upon his victims. One
was called the "heater." This was a
piece of redhot metal which the un
fortunates were compelled to hold in
their hands. Another was known as
the "roaster," which consisted of a well
greased copper pillar over a pit full of
burning charcoal. On this the condemned
. man. was. compelled to. walk, and .when
his feet slipped he fell into the fire and
was roasted alive, to the great delight
of Chow Sin and his lnamqrata.; Jn or
der to settle a discussion as to which
had the most marrow in their bones,
young men or old men, the king caused
a number to have their legs broken,
and these are the first victims mention
ed as having directly suffered In the
sause of science.
Accustomed as they were to deeds of
cruelty, the Chinese of every age have
reveled in bloodshed and shown an
amazing insensibility to suffering.
From the earliest times also they have
displayed an insensate hatred of for- j
iiu iiuiu i iic xirsi mey termed
"barbarians." It waa in the reign of
Muh, about 1000 B. C., that the decrees
were enacted known as the "five great
punishments," which were cutting off
the noae, ears and feet, branding and
death. A thousand different kinds of
crime were punishable by the first two,
500 by the third, 300 by the fourth, while
there were 200 which incurred the death
penalty. But all these could be com
muted by money payments, according
to a published scale, and this system of
compounding with crime has operated
to the enrichment of the mandarins
and the corruption of the courts up to
the present time.
One of the greatest fighters of his age
was the Emperor Wu Ti.; who was vic
torious in more than 70 battles, but who
was so superstitious that he always
carried with htm- a famed magician.
Wu, being desirous of -receiving -a mes
sage direct from the gods, the magician
at last told him he would find it inside
a certain cow, which he ordered killed.
The message was found as foretold.
PROCESSION
but as it was in the magician's hand
writing, Wu Ti had him killed, too.
In the third century, A. D., there
arose a certain queen whose acts pro
claimed her a worthy predecessor of
the present empress do-wager of China,
for she set up and pulled down rulers
galore, starved her rivals to death and
murdered an uncle of the empror be
cause he opposed her. She was finally
overthrown, and her husband took his
revenge upon the mandarins by confis
cating the wealth of Sun-sin, who was
the Croesus of that time.
About the middle of the fifth century
China was ruled by a wily emperor
who, when opposed by herds of trained
elephants on the Tonquin border, put
them to flight by setting up a row of
wooden lions, which caused them to.
turn tail and charge upon their owners.
He it was who massacred all the Bud
dhist priests in his empire and destroy
ed their idols and their temples. Hut
he was no more enlightened than, the
others, for his soldiers, when they
marched through the enemy's country.
Impaled tender babes on their pikes
and gloated over their agonized writh
lngs while held high in air. A suc
cessor of his. a hundred years later,
while suppressing a conspiracy against
his throne, seized the ringleaders and
boiled them in a caldron of oil.
Karly in the Beventh century a rebel
lion was suppressed by the reigning
emperor, who murdered more than 30.
000 people in cold blood.. . The most
sanguinary insurrection that ever dev-
hue
SHE
G
n
:
a-
nu
, l . . I ' ttZW -inr F.i. iff f.vnT'TC- J . -
FACADE AND GRAND STAIRWAY OF THE STATES'
astated China occurred toward the
end of the ninth century at the insti
gation of Li K'eh-yung, the "One Eyed
Dragon," when, it is said, 8,000,000 peo
ple perished, and blood flowed for a
thousand miles And so the tale of
blood went on through the centuries,
human life being held of no account. In
the last decade of the fourteenth cen-
CHINESE VICEROY
BLOOD
' tury the Emperor Hung Wu extermi
nated a noble family and sentenced to
cruel deaths 15,000 men and women
merely on suspicion of plotting against
his throne.
All the emperors of China were chips
off the same block, if the historical
record! are true all cruel, relentless,
merciless. Even so late as 1S13, during
the reign of Kia K'ing, a conspirator
who came near to seising the emperor
suffered death by the horrible process
of "slicing," which consists in cutting
off small portions of the culprit's body,
face or limbs at stated intervals, until
he. literally dies by inches. . This same
Kia K'ing sent 20,000 rebels to the exe
cution block, and it was he who, in 1816,
because of some trifling breach of court
etiquette, refused to see Lord Amherst
and his embassy from England and
compelled them to retrace their steps
to the coast in deep humiliation.
Although the Chinese looked upon all
outside peoples as "barbarians" and
their hatred of them was deeply in
grained, they had not made them ob
jects of attack except in certain spo
radic cases of local origin. Always,
however, there existed the hatred of
the native convert, and many thou
sands of Chinese Christians have per
ished by the sword.
When war broke out between Eng
land and China, about 60 years ago,
the Chinese promptly offered rewards
for the heads of all Englishmen cap
tured. A party of six foreigners was
murdered near Canton in December,
1847, and stray travelers were put to
death wherever found; but for all these
outrages the government was sternly
called to account and made to pay in
demnities. During the Taiping rebel
lion the cruelties practiced were of the
most horrible description, both by the
rebels and the imperial troops, and
proved conclusively that mercy has no
part in the Chinese composition.
One of the first official acts of
Kvvang-Su, the present emperor, was to
order an indemnity of 200,000 taels for
the murder of an Englishman who was
killed in a remote part of the empire,
followed by a proclamation . that for
eigners should everywhere receive pro
tection. In 1860. 28 English subjects were tak
en and tortured on the road from Tien
tsin to Peking. Thirteen of them died
from their injuries. The Chinese gov
ernment disavowed all responsibility
for or connection with this act, as it
did for the later horrible massacre at
Tlen-tsin, but it was forced to award
compensation and . punish the alleged
perpetrators. The Tien-tsln outrage
was the first attempt upon the lives of
unarmed foreigners which had reached
the proportions of a massacre in many
years. It took place in June, 1870, but
a few months after the death of Mr.
Burlingame, who was then on his fa
mous mission of peace in behalf of
China to foreign lands. It may have
been occasioned indirectly by the In
evitable revulsion to which Chinamen
are subject whenever they have made
any concession to foreign opinion, but
was directly owing to the fanaticism of
the lower class people of Tlen-tsin.
As many of the children in the found
ling asylum conducted by the Sisters of
Mercy had died of an epidemic, it was
given out that they had been murdered
for the sake of their eyes, which were
to"be transmuted into silver. This ab
surd story was believed, and the fa
natics attacked and destroyed the or
phanage, cathedral and French consul
ate, murdering 18 French, including
several Sisjters of Mercy and two Rus
sians. France at that time was unable
to exact reparation, but by imperial
effli aw
US' I
Ens
E
a
edlet the French were paid 400,000 taels
as compensation, 20 of the chief rioters
were executed and a deputation of Chi
nese proceeded to Paris to make a
formal and humble apology.
After the war with Japan, in' 1895,
the Chinese government did not afford
sufficient protection to strangers, par
ticularly missionaries, and several out-
ON THE WAY TO A FOREIGN LEGATION.
rages occurred. Our minister at Pe
king requested a guard to protect the
legation, and 50 marines were sent
from United States war vessels, while
early in the war the four great powers
had made an agreement that their
forces should protect each other's cit
izens or unite for common defense if
necessary.
It was in January of the present
year, shortly after the outbreak, that
Mr. Brooks of the north China mis
sion was killed by Boxers at Tai-an-fu,
being the first martyr of this
uprising. Later two others, the Rev.
H. V. Norman and 'Rev. Charles-Robinson,
were murdered at Y-ung Ch'ln,
and in addition thousands of native
converts have been reported killed at
various missions.
TRUMAN L.JAMIESON.
A DEAL JAPASKSB Dl.VXEB,
To a European, given to stiff joints
and corpulency, a Japanese dinner is a
tedious experience. Hut a real Japanese
dinner, including chopsticks, lacquer
trays and tiny cups, it a thing never
be forgotten.
The guests remove t'.!
entering the hnup
provided with &
shoes, must s
inged feet, tinl
an extra pair.
v iif
i- ...!(? in stot.'k
. ;.iy the host has
wife of a Japanese
lr-rlde at his table
gentleman does
unless there are ladies in the party, but
appears with the tin and sweetmeats
which always precede a dinner. She
merely greets the guests and appears
again only when the goodbys are Wid.
Silken cushions are scattered about the
floor, and the guests are arranged ac
cording to rank, for the Japanese are,
of course, great sticklers for form and
ceremony. Little tables, some six inch
es high, are placed before each one, and
barefooted waitingmaids in graceful and
prettily tinted kimonos bring in lacquer
trays with several tiny covered bowls.
Before leaving the trays on the tables
they set them on the floor and, drop
ping on their knees, make their best
bow, touching their , foreheads to the
floor.
The host sets an example by remov
ing the covers from the tiny bowls, and
the guest, doing likewise, finds an as
sortment of food quite new and gener
ally most distasteful. Mustering up
much skill, one attempts getting the
food on chopsticks from the tables to
one's mouth. The first few times most
of it falls on the floor or In .one's lap.
The wretched sticks wabble and. cross
each other as if fbrused. When almost
desperate, the good host is apt to come
to the rescue by suggesting lifting the
bowls and, with the aid of a chopstick,
shoveling the food In, as one would po
tatoes into a barrel.
In each course there are half a dozen
dishes, and the host tells what they are.
First, a bean soup; chestnuts boiled
and crushed: fish, picked fine and roll
ed into little balls and baked; raw fish,
cut into thin slices and covered with
ice. This is dipped into rich sauce
called soy, and is really very good.
Little cups of warm sake, the native
brandy made of rice, are served with
each course. Napkins and bread are
unknown quantities.
The second course, is a small fish boil
ed whole; bits of fowl boiled with pota
toes or lotus root; a salad of onions;
peas and beans, with a few leaves of
lettuce; sea snails served with eggplant
mashed, and a thick soup made of fish
and vegetables, with mushrooms for a
relish.
The third course is a curry of rice
and picked vegetables, and for a fourth
and final course you have a sort of
vermicelli served with soy and a sweet
liqueur called mirinr shiruko, rice cakes,
seaweed and confectionery of, all sorts,
which are very sweet and tasteless.
During the dinner each, guest rises
and proposes the health of the host
and one other guest until the whole
party is disposed of. This custom, is
rather hard on the guests, for sake is
i 1 'tiBBi
a 'a
BUILDING SUGGESTED BY P.
fiery stuff, and goes to one's head more
quickly than brandy. To make matters
worse, after one aas drunk the health
of all the company, it is customary to
drink the health of the waitresses, who
bow their foreheads to the floor in ac
knowledgment. When all is over, one
feels very hungry and tiff in the
joints.
Willi
" 1 " I I i I,. I Ill MM .1 II II - II I I II
A States' Building
At Washington.
THE people- of the country at large
and the citizens of Washington
particularly are just now wonder
ing what scheme or ceremony will be
decided upon to fittingly celebrate the
one hundredth anniversary of the
founding of Washington as the nation's
capital.
The centennial committee of govern
ors outlined a programme for this pur
pose some time ago, a part of which
was the carrying out of Architect
Cobb's suggestion to cut a grand
"Centennial avenue" through the Mall
or Central park along its northern
edge, and that would leave between
it and the first r'---t north of it a
strip of land block or so, wide
that congress as to dedicate as
slt-s for fur . h lilacs J-.r govern
ment u
i.wii tti-frv, 'ing a sum suffl
cr t ."V f - -I1 .; preliminary surveys
i " ' i . n been enacted, and next ses-
ion that grand avenue may be ordered
completed.
About a year ago, and In connection
with this scheme, I suggested that a
great states' building be built In
this city and that a fitting ceremony to
help celebrate the centennial would be
the laying of its cornerstone, or, at
least, the very active agitation of such
a building project.
The lot I have in mind for that build
ing would be the present Central mar
ket (United States government proper
ty) site, added to the small part of the
Mall between the market and the pro
posed grand avenue a lot of 500 by
nearly 800 feet, bounded by .the new av
enue, Pennsylvania avenue. Seventh
and Ninth streets, northwest.
A word aa to the purposes of this
building.
The states are represented here by
their senators and their representatives
tM; mm fM -
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i a ii a a a
W. FITZPATRICK.
at the capitol. The functions of these
bodies are legislative, yet the capitol
to all intents and purposes is a federal
institution, and the sovereign American
people as individuals have little to say
or do there. We keep consuls in pretty
nearly every city of importance in the
world, but In this capital, the people's
yery own, there is no one of their eerv-
! ants charged with any such duty.
What I suggest is a grand states' build
ing not a Federal institution in any
sense, but a people's building, where
every man from every state may feel
at home built for his comfort and in
his interest principally.
The plans for such, a building should
be made by the very best .architect in
the land, and he-should be; chosen in
an honestly managed, clean competi
tion open to all the architects of the
country..
The site Is a magnificent one a grand
opportunity for an architectural dis
play, fronting, as it does, one face on
the proposed government thoroughfare
and one upon Pennsylvania avenue, the
principal commercial artery of the city.
It is directly opposite where it is pro
posed to erect a mammoth union rail
way station, and therefore will be
about the first thing one sees upon
reaching town and should also be every
stranger's objective point.
On the first floor, fronting; the new
avenue, there should be tire, states'
rooms, also great ."reception' rooms,
checkrooms,' toilets and a bureau of
inquiry, where guides may; be obtained
to "do" the city, and also the names of
hotels, boarding houses and all other
useful information. The states' rooms
would fill the first and pretty nearly all
the second story, these rooms to be
regular offices for each state a meet
ing place for all visitors from that
state, a sort of ''home for- the way
farer.V in charge of a state officer noted
for his good humor and patience, whose
duty it would be to be of as much serv
ice to his co-citizens as possible.
There would be registers In each
room, where every one from that state
would give all the information concern
ing his whereabouts and the duration
of his visit that he might see fit; a post-
offlce, where letters may be addressed
to its care, the principal newspapers
of that state kept on file, writing ma
terial, etc in fact, a room for the par
ticular comfort and use of every one
visiting the nation's capital from that
state.
These large rooms would open into a
grand hall, lighted from above the sec
ond story and the full size of the light
court of the building. In this hali or
"states' court," there might be por
tioned off sections for the display of ex
hibits from each state, its products,
etc., but it - would be chiefly a . great
lounging room, where people from the
four comers of our country might meet,
get acquainted and feel at home. Oft
this court and closed from it by drop
screens in ordinary times would be the
auditorium, fronting on Pennsylvania
avenue. A great, galleried amphithea
ter, seating 8,000 people at least, and
seven - wide exits and broad stairs
would " allow of quickly emptying its
crowds directly to the street level and
in immediate proximity to. all the car
lines. This auditorium would be for the
use of all the great conventions assem
bling here, each to arrange a long
time ahead for dates, etc., with the
board of control.
Scattered over the various floors
would be the congressional committee
rooms. The reason for their being in
this building is that, although congress
when in session meets at noon, until
then the congressmen are at their of
fices, scattered through the business
blocks of the city or in their committee
rooms at or about the capitol. Having
these committee rooms near their of
fices would be a wonderful convenience.
These men are here in the interests of
their states; it is but just that those
states furnish them an office where oth
er than the purely legislative business
of the state may be Attended to. Ev
ery day, too, there is growing a greater
objection to their 'writing letters and
attending to their constituents in the
halls of congress.
This building would be splendidly
situated for their purposes. Just mid
way between the capitol and the ..big
departments. While each congressman
would have a workroom, ample recep
tion rooms, parlors and waiting rooms
would be provided, where they could
give ear to their constituents' appeals
and indulge in social converse.
In the top story there might be a res
taurant, barber and bath arrangements
and other features of club, life. We
owe it to our congressmen to make
their life here as comfortable as possi
ble. It may also tend to improve, or,
rather, to keep up, the present high
standard of legislation.
It ought to be the object of every
state to keep on file in its quarters in
this building a mass of useful facts and
figures about its commerce, etc., from
which its representatives might get any
data at a moment's notice that they
may need. This would ultimately cre
ate an exchange bureau here, where
one might find out anything he wants
to know about any or every state. It
would tend to unify the states, keep
them in as close touch socially and
commercially as the capitol does polit
ically. To the nation as a whole one
can readily see how infinitely more
beneficial such a building with such
purposes would be than is even our
beautiful library of congress.
According to my plan, when the
screens are raised the auditorium and
the grand hall may be thrown together,
the exhibits, desks, etc., in the latter
lowered to the storerooms in the base
ment, and you would have one vast
hall capable of accommodating 25,000
people for great conventions and as
semblies. You would decorate this
room every four years and have an in
augural ball there that would be some
thing to remember. As it Is now, the
work of an entire branch of the gov
ernment has to be virtually stopped for
a couple of weeks in order that its
building may be prepared for that cer
emony. S.urely we are wealthy enough
to afford the luxury of one such hall,
owned by us Jointly, at the Federal
capital of our country!
F. W. FITZPATRICK.
ATI ASTOlflSHED DtKB,
The Duke of Cambridge and his
friends have many stories to tell of his
recent stay in Rome. One of his experi
ences is specially characteristic of all
the parties con
cerned. On the
occasion of a
visit to the Vat
ican the duke,
hearing from a
friend that it
was proper to
talk Latin there,
brushed up a
few phrases and
passwords. The
Vatican, on its
part, was equal
ly punctilious.
All guards who
could speak Eng
lish were order
ed to the front.
The chamber
lains of English
nationality or
speech were re
quired to at
tend, and the
pope himself
prac ticed the
"Well,
I'm" something
or other.
English sentences he had learned from
Mr. Neld, an English resident in Brus
sels, 50 years ago, much priding him
self on the vernacular of his "Seat
down."
the gallant duke, when he arrived at
the outer portals of the Vatican, was
addressed by a guard, who said, "This
way, your royal highness." The duke
started with relief; he was rid, for the
moment, of his Latin. The same expe
rience met him at each turn, and In the
anterooms it was repeated. Reaching
at last the door of the pope's private
apartment, the duke was. met by a mon
signor whose mother was English and
whose own accent Is native, as he of
fered to take his royal highness hat.
"Well, I'm" something or other, blurt
ed out the astounded visitor. But it
was & word the pope did not remember
to have learned from Mr. Neld.
MR. BALFOIR ATfD THE OOLF CLUB.
A rather amusing story Is going the
rounds in London of Mr. A. J. Balfour
and the Cassiobury Golf club. The oth
er day Mr. Balfour and Lord George
Hamilton went down to have a game of
golf on the Cassiobury golf links, near
Watford. There is rather a sensioie
rule In force at this club which enables
members to always get into a cab
which is going to the club from the sta
tion by paying sixpence, llie rule,
however, on this occasion was the
cause of rather a surprise for a golfer
and the two right honorable gentlemen.
The expectant golfers haa ensconced
themselves in their cab and were Just
driving off when an excited looking in
dividual, with golf clubs, rushed out
of the station and stopped the carriage,
merely uttering a mumbled phrase
about there being room for another,
and got in. Mr. Balfour and his friend
were considerably surprised, as they
were unaware of the rule. But when
they arrived at' the end of the short
Journey and their fellow traveler calm
ly offered Mr. Balfour sixpence as his
share of the fare, their surprise quickly
changed to amazement. However, when
the bylaw was explained Mr. Balfour
not only laughed at their experience,
but commended so exceedingly con
venient an arrangement. -
where: policemeji arhj busy.
Japan has a police fores modeled
something after the French system.
In various places throughout Tgkyo
there are small kabanchos, which are
something ilka the British sentinel
boxes, but larger.
Three men are attached to each box
daily. One remains inside, resting,
while another stands at the door, and
the third patrols a beat and returns at
regular Intervals to the box. Stations
are changed every eight hours. After
24 hours' work the three policemen ara
given the same length of time to rest,
and three other men are sent to the
box.
During their "off" days the men are
employed in taking; a census, making
reports regarding .the condition of
streets, bridges, embankments, drains
and cemeteries. They also report wed
dings, births, deaths, theatrical per
formances and the presence of suspi
clous peopla
'