264. 



THE AMEUlCAy MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Second, the increase of population 

 apparently has outrun the available 

 land and the food supply; or. to state 

 the case otherwise, the scale of living 

 has been forced to very low terms. 

 There must be something in the organ- 

 ization of their society highly condu- 

 cive to race increase; there must be a 

 high essential morality and a govern- 

 mental system that is on the whole 

 kindly or at least not repressive. 



We must be careful not to confound 

 racial customs, particularly in their re- 

 lations to the sexes, with essential 

 morality. 



Third, we must recognize that the 

 Chinese have learneid the great art of 

 economical living. They know how to 

 use nourishing vegetable foods to the 

 greatest advantage. The Eomans knew 

 the value of pulse. Daniel refused that 

 he and his associates should use King 

 Xebuchadnezzar's meat and the wine he 

 drank, but insisted on the simpler diet 

 of the Israelites; and a test was made 

 to the result that the king's dainties 

 were taken from his own men and they 

 were given pulse to eat. We think of 

 China as a land of rice, but it is also 

 a land of soy, and the odor of the bean 

 curd announces your approach to a 

 village. With all our violent conserva- 

 tion, we are not yet in sight of the 

 Chinese economy ; and yet I was im- 

 pressed Avith the fact that the Chinese 

 >■' live well in proportion to their incomes. 

 They have food freely, and in surpris- 

 ing variety, although simple among the 

 common folk. 



We are to hope that we shall never 

 be driven to the extreme food reduc- 

 tions of the mass of the Chinese people, 

 yet we must recognize their maintenance 

 of population in the face of such reduc- 

 tion ; it would be well for us to make 

 more extended studies of their dietaries. 



( Query : Have the chef and the 

 menu added to the virility of our west- 

 ern people? Most of our people do 

 not have these aids: is there any rela- 

 tion here to the birth rate? Are the 



results of our studies of calories any- 

 thing more than the elimination of 

 materials which over-supplied persons 

 have learned to add to their stomachs?) 



Fourth, there is limitless latent power 

 in her population. China is often de- 

 scribed as a country of vast potential 

 natural resources; of tliis I do not 

 know. l)ut I was much impressed with 

 llic jiotcntialitics of bci' undeveloped 

 luiman resources, llrrc i,- endless ca- 

 pacity for labor, patience in the face of 

 great difficulties, a reserve force that 

 some day the world may sorely need. 



(Query: Do we of the West give too 

 much weight to the development of the 

 individual, as a separate unit? Or is 

 there an evolutionary ])ower in nnm- 

 bers?) 



Fifth. Cliina has withstood the shock 

 of invasions from without and of up- 

 risings within. We think of the pres- 

 ent war as the most destructive of 

 life in the world's history; yet I have 

 l)een told that the estimated loss of life 

 in the Tai-])ing reliellion and as a iv- 

 sult of it (this rebellion ended about 

 the time of our Civil War) was many 

 millions. There must be some powerful 

 ]>rinciple in the Chinese civilization, 

 some abiding merit in tbe institutions, 

 to account for these recoveries through- 

 out the centuries. China has recovered 

 l)y means of her own internal strength 

 without the need of external help. She 

 has not gone forth for to conquer. 

 China has minded her own affairs: 

 among the great self-governing peoples 

 or powers she is peculiar. 



Sixth. China is farthest removed 

 from being a military nation. It has 

 been the diversion of the rest of the 

 world to laugh at her army. Yet she 

 has these centuries to her credit. She 

 has maintained herself. The Chinese 

 invented gunpowder. It is said that it 

 was used to drive away the evil spirits. 

 If she had used it to kill her neighbors 

 we should now class her with the Great 

 Powers and probal)ly wordd not need to 

 send teachers to ln'i'. 



