2GG 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



ing, such as should dcliylit the lieart of 

 the purest classicist. 



Modern educatitiu in the ;ill-wise 

 Occident is an urhaii cultTprix". It is 

 very expensive. Introduced into China 

 it is likely unduly to favor the city 

 youth. 



(Query: Do our great compulse y 

 systems of uniformity in education 

 open a career for talent? In the old 

 academy days. pul)lic opinion allowed 

 one student to be treated differently 

 from another : we still bnast of the 

 strong characters that came out of the 

 academies. ) 



Tenth. China has now thiMw ii nil' the 

 alien Manchu dynasty, has washed her 

 hands clean of it, and has set herself 

 to the repairing of the expci'ienee of 

 the last hundred years or so. I was in 

 China in 1917 when the young Manchu 

 ]H'ince was restored. Even in a time of 

 internal dissension and of Avorld dis- 

 turbance, the youth was allowed in a 

 few days to return to his pursuits. The 

 old order is ended. China cannot live 

 on her past. She knows it. 



Eleventh, the Chinese ha\e Icariuvl 

 that some things lie lieyond the iuquisi- 

 tiveness of man. They have accepted 

 this fact. Confucius taught that some 

 'truths of nature are not discoverable. 

 With all our iu(|uiiM('s we seem to he as 

 far as ever t'mui the ultimatts. The 

 Caucasian assumes that he can solve the 

 riddle of the universe by rule and bal- 

 ance, l)y retort, by microseojie and tele- 

 scope. Yet the basis of any science 's 

 at first an assumjition. Perha])- we 

 shall some day (•oncludc that the idti- 

 mate truths must b:' projected rather 

 than discovered. 



((^uery: Have we yet learned how to 

 use natural science? Is it to be used 

 for powi'r that we mav accumulate to 

 ourselves the physical and material 

 goods of life? Are we not now at bat- 

 tle with this idea?) 



Some day we shall learn that science 

 is not merely a handmaiden to indus- 

 tr}^ but that it may expand the soul. 



I could much extend these interest- 

 ing categories but I have given enough 

 for my purpose, which is to suggest 

 that China has much to teach us and 

 that we should send our instructors in 

 no spirit of superiority or complacency ; 

 and also that we are not to judge China 

 by what we of the West are fond of call- 

 ing "progress." 



The objective civilization of the West 

 has much to learn from the subjective 

 experience of the East. China is in- 

 deed weak in the occidental commer- 

 cial sense, and we assume that whatever 

 is weak commercially is weak essen- 

 tially. Here we make a profound mis- 

 take. We are even now at war with 

 this idea. We have been dazzled by the 

 efficiency of Germany as a highly or- 

 ganized state, incorjDorating the meth- 

 ods of business into its system. The 

 western world has prided itself on the 

 discovery of Efficiency. We have wor- 

 shiped at the feet of the God of Effi- 

 ciency. jSTow we find that it is only a 

 species of idolatry and soon avc shall be 

 trying to smash the idol. We Ijegin to 

 see that we have l)een Avorshiping the 

 Golden (*alf. 



T am not much given to the demand 

 that we fill the great responsibilities 

 with business men. We live in a com- 

 mercial civilization, but not the pro- 

 grams nor even the methods of business 

 are necessarily sujierlatiA'c. For public 

 work we need much more than so-called 

 business alulity. We need liroad views 

 on puldic questions, outlook into future 

 results, passion for public service. The 

 activity of accumulation, Avhich is the 

 guiding principle in business, is not the 

 best training for puldic service. I have 

 noticed in good business men a singu- 

 lar lack of judgment on large public 

 policies, and a short reach in dealing 

 Avith many of the elementary principles 

 controlling economic and social ques- 

 tions. I have come to feel that I want 

 the outside vicAV. The business man is 

 trained in judging men and situations 

 as they affect him. Personally he may 



