694 



REVIEW OF REVIEV^S. 



September 1. VJIS. 



frank envy of their companions when 

 they sallied forth in light headgear 

 when everyone else required muffling up. 

 OFF TO THE POLE. 

 The two motors were sent off first, 

 towing sledges. Alas ! one after an- 

 other they broke down. Evidently the 

 engines were not suitable for working in 

 Polar regions. One thing, however, was 

 proved, the system of propulsion was 

 altogether satisfactory. Scott thus de- 

 scribes the work of the ponies. 



" The little devil Clirist-oplior was har- 

 nessed with the usual difficulty and started 

 in kicking mood, Gates holding on for all 

 lie was worth. Bones ambled off gently with 

 Crean, and I led Snippets in hi.s wake. Ten 

 minutes after, Evans and Snatcher pa.ssed 

 at the usual full speed." 



Indeed, "Snatcher soon led the party and 

 covered the distance in four hours. Bones 



and Christopher arrived almost equally 

 fresh : in fact, the later had been bucking 

 and kicking the whole way^or the present 

 there is no end to his devilment, and the 

 great consideration is how to safeguard 

 Oat-es." 



A SWELTERING DAY. 



The ponies " hate the wind." At halts 

 shelter walls had to be built for them. 

 Scott describes a " sweltering " day, the 

 air breathless, the glare intense, the tem- 

 perature time, 22 deg. ! " One's mind 

 seeks comparison in hot, sunlit streets 

 and scorching pavements, yet six hours 

 ago ni)- thumb was frostbitten." 



The next instalment, which will ap- 

 pear in Everybody s and the Strand, 

 tells of the journey South until Captain 

 Evans turns back, leaving Scott. Wilson, 

 Oates. Bowers and Evans to march to 

 the Pole -and death. 



CHINA'S 30,000,000 SOLDIERS. 



Mr. Shaw Desmond calmh' talks in 

 the London Magazine of a little army 

 of 30,000,000 Chinamen which will en- 

 able the yellow races to dominate the 

 world by sheer numbers ! Now China 

 is supposed to have a population of 

 450,000,000, so to fulfil Mr. Desmond's 

 dream, one out of ever)' 15 inhabitants 

 of the Celestial Republic would have to 

 be a soldier. Germany, with a popula- 

 tion of 65,000,000, has a possible war 

 establishment of 3,800,000 men ; in 

 peace keeps under arms 688,000 soldiers. 

 Only one in every 17 in the greatest 

 military power of the world is thus liable 

 to serve as a soldier. It is, however, on 

 the financial side that the utter im- 

 possibility of equipping and training 

 30,000,000 men becomes apparent. Ger- 

 many's annual war bill is ^^^43, 000,000, 

 which provides for an army of less than 

 three-quarters of a million. Supposing, 

 though, that this sum were all that was 

 required for the 3,800,000 war establish- 

 ment, China, on the same basis, would 

 have to provide the nice little sum of 

 iJ'3 40,000,000 annually ! With great 

 dif^culty she has recently raised a loan 

 of i^20,ooo,ooo at a ruinous rate of in- 

 terest ! 



China, Mr. Desmond insists, is waking 

 up in all directions. This may be true, 

 but obviously the internal dissensions 



which are now rending the land m twain 

 will stop the waking up process for 

 many years to come. Still, according to 

 Mr. Desmond, she means to wage an 

 industrial war with the powers of Chris- 

 tendom. With this object, he says, she 

 is opening mills of all descriptions, and 

 is exploiting her mineral wealth, hitherto 

 left untouched owing to superstition. 

 She is organising her education and her 

 army on modern lines. All of which 

 leads up to the expulsion of the Powers, 

 which will be followed by a demand for 

 admittance to Europe, Australia, and the 

 United States. 



There will he no question of a yellow horde 

 sweeping across F.urope. which to-day could 

 be easilv met. but insidious advance, cease- 

 less a\\<\ insistent. " ith the armed Yellow 

 Man behind it. 



The European Powers and the U.S.A. will 

 be ])owerless to enforce anti-Yellow enact- 

 ments within a generation or two, because a 

 Cliin(>se army of .Sl).0(MJ.(H;O. properly 

 equipped, would dominate the world by sheer 

 numbers. 



Where Chinamen settle they stay, and 



will oust all others by their cheap 



labour : — 



The only way to jirevent such a death 

 struggle of the White and Yellow races is 

 by the withdrawal of the Powers from China 

 and consequent abandonment of " the lireak- 

 ing-up of China " idea, with the institutioji 

 of free intercourse upon a basis of racial 

 equality between tlie two races, subject to 

 marriage restrictions, in which the Yellow 



