THREE BOOKS ON CHINA 335 



'lisposed to accept the minimum rather tlian the maximum estimate of its 

 number, placing it considerablj' under 400,000,000. A curious f\\ct is that 

 tlieir geographic names are not names, but descriptive appellations. It is as if 

 we should saj', not " Long Island," but " the long island." 



China, although inhabited by civilized man for thou.snnds of years, has 

 scarcely commenced the development of lier natural resources. Although 

 abounding in coal and ores of iron, copper, lead, gold, and other metals, the 

 development of these deposits has barely begun. Although producing in the 

 aggregate vast quantities of certain crops, tea, tobacco, opium, silk, and cotton, 

 the country has astonishingly little trade, even internal trade. This is owing 

 to the fact that there are very few railroads and that the Avagon roads are 

 everywhere almost impassable. Coal, which at the pit's mouth is sold for fif- 

 teen cents per ton, brings as many dollars per ton ten miles away. One part 

 of the empire may be suflfering from famine while one hundred miles away 

 the people may be rolling in abundance. 



Two-thirds of the foreign trade of China is in the hands of Great Britain, 

 the remainder being mainly with Japan, the United States, Germany, and 

 Russia. The foreign trade is carried on almost entirely through the treaty ports, 

 and foreign goods penetrate the interior of China only through Chinese mer- 

 chants. Lacking push and initiative, as they do, the introduction of foreign 

 goods into the interior is making very slow headway. Ru.ssia and Germany 

 are doing somewhat better than other nations, inasmuch as they have agents 

 scattered over the interior for the purpose of introducing tlieir goods, and in 

 recent years inore progi"ess in the extension of commerce has been made by 

 them than by their rivals. 



' The government of China rests upon the family as a unit and is built up- 

 ward and outward therefrom. It is a development of the princijile of local 

 self-government and is highly organized, especially in its smaller units. 

 Herein lies the .secret of the strength of the Chinese people. Dynasties may 

 come and go (although in no other country on earth have single dynasties held 

 their places so long), but the Chinese are still Chinese. They were conquered 

 centuries ago by the Manchus and have been ruled by them since, but they 

 have conquereil their conquerors and amalgamated them with themselves. 

 China is divided into eighteen j)rovinces, each with a governor or viceroy, 

 who is in most matters independent of the central authority at Pekin, being 

 accountable to him for but little more than the payment of taxes. The 

 Emperor is the father of tlie people, standing between tiieni and the Supreme 

 Ruler, and is accountaliie to him alone. 



The second book is, in the main, devoted to countries otlier than Ciiina. In 

 lS98-M)i) the author journeyeil v'm the Trans-Siberian Railway to Lake Haikal ; 

 thence to the desert of (jol>i, to Pekin, .southward to the Yangtze, and up that 

 river to the head of navigation ; thence through the southwestern provinces of 

 Cliina to Haifong. Siberia, with its railway, and Manchuria are (lescril)ed. 

 The author .shares with most KurojieanH an exaggerated idea of tiie greatness of 

 Ru.ssia's undertaking in the construction of the Siberian Railway, a matter 

 of building some 4,000 miles, or ai)Out onc^-tliird as much as has been built in 

 tlie United States in a single year, and tiiat along a very favorable route. Of 



