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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1911)
4 THE SUNDAY OHEGOyiAy, PORTLAyD, MAY 7. 1911. ' ' MURDERERS SLAY WAY TO AFFLUENCE AMONG TRIBES IN WESTERN CHINA Mandarins in Petty Provinces Wage Progress i: v vv 4 T. i. i BT L J. DINGI.B. YCNNAX. China. April B. (Sp rfml.) Ptrrlnn t random In the remotest corners of China I have come upon some queer tribes and cus toms. Primitive man here has primitive wars, provina: how old an institution is srraft. how Inherent the desire to (ret rich quick, and how world wide the be lief In the policy of beggar-my-nelgh-bor. Generally spea.k:lns; the way to afflu ence amour the feudalists of Western China la murder. And equally general la the plea of self-defense. Not a man among: them but mla-ht say with truth: ' "If I had aot killed him he would have killed me at the first chance." Where upon the local Chinese Mandarin re members that he has- drawn tribute from the accused, blandly waves his three-Inch flncer nail and saya he can do nothing. Everybody aicrees that the rules of the sjame have been observed and nobody is diopoaed to kick when the murderer rathers in his victim's possessions and adds them to his own. Nature Is red In tooth and if-Tv; . v v' :rr ' , V - --.Jl . ' i '.' ' - -r ' 1J I.,. ,.M,.-.nr- .iliM ij I") 21 T - g- I j." " ... v, ? i-t--" I .1 I . . - -. - . ' '? V r-' -7:: J : ? .- vf .:,lA .vf., rC I r-.. -v.. : - --,-v.- . . ; " - ::-"T. - :r::?te:M?r I iV'ii 1 v V- - Jl V W . - . - . ft '- . . . 4. 1ft ' V .. T C - .... a. - J . -SS . ! these parts. China Is Awakening. Put I remember that I am writing" to Western readers on a eubject affect ing; an awakening; China, and there is likely to be surprise and skepticism concerning; such a condition as I have Indicated. Tes. China is awakening all right; but she Is still rubbing her eyes after slumber. The circumstances I have In mind will presently disappear. So I am fortunate In happening upon them before the Westernizing reformer has come along to obliterate tVie traces of tribal conflict and variety and reduce everything to a dead level of order and respectability. Only those who have broken away from the main arteries of Chinese travel realise to what an extent there are tribes of people, essentially non Chinese n orla-tn. maintaining their In dependence within the "Flowery Land" and ruled as despotically by their own chiefs as their ancestors were prob ably forty centuries airtx There are "white bones'" and "black bones." long heads and broad beads, swarthy faces, yellow faces, white face, long noses and flat noses, oblique eyes and straight eves, black hair and brown hair and many other indications of different tri bal breeds. Graft Eay for Chief. The Chinese Empire Is so Immense after centuries of gradual conquest and It lacks so completely an effective cen tral government, that It haa been fair ly easy, up to now, for many of these petty chieftains to retain their privi leges, so long as they met the excessive "squeeze" of taxation Imposed by the Chinese yamen functionary nominally ruling the territory. Others have not been so successful or eo hardy. They have mixed more freely with the real Chinese, absorbing more civilisation, adopting the Chinees dress and cus toms and generally becoming so Chi nese that a stranger would be roughly handled who suggested they were of other blood. The survivors of the feudal tribes are doing battle against Innovation today sturdily but hopelessly. They are lo cated In districts sparsely populated and removed from political activity. So remote are they. In fact, that the Chinese rulers themselves know very I little about them. Before penetrating tha rwwiei at China I sought official Heartless Policy in Extorting Wealth Going On With Survivors of Pendal "V w . J 1 Information aa to these native princi palities. I waa Informed that one tribe had tails and the members of another race had two faees. All sorts of fan tastic Inaccuracies were crowded into the official records. Ruclal Interest Seen. Most of this aboriginal population Is to be found in Tun nan. Sxechwan and part of Kwelchow. where the taxation required to carry on the reform move ment has fallen less heavily than else where, up to now. The ethnological student can find here a perfect garden of racial Interest. Nowhere In the wide world Is there such a variety of lan guages and dialects.- Here In this cor ner of the East the centuries have seen the cradle and deathbed of nations, of tribes bent on glory and conquest from the world's Infancy till now. Just where Tunnan meets Kwelchow dwell the feudal Nou-su and the de based and dependent Mlao peoples, with innnmerable tribal distinctions and hereditary peculiarities most perplex ing to the Western wanderer. It Is from their midst that I write these lines. The Nou-su are called I-plen or E-plen by the Chlr.ese. They are a fine, tall race, with comparatively fair com plexions, and often atraight features, suggesting a mixture of the Mongolian with some more regular featured race. But after studying them for a long time I have come to the conclusion that the Nou-su are a branch of the great Ixtlo race, which can be traced back to the Tibeto-Burman racial family. Battle) Being Waged. Today, however, the Nou-su are in teresting be cause in studying them one can witness the most striking modern battle between prehistoric feudalism and modern progress. Here among these hills the last stand la being mads for tribal tyranny. For generations they have warded) off the encroachments of the Chinese. Even now they own and rule the greater part of the country ad jacent to the right bank of the river of Golden Sand the local name of the Tangtxe In the provinces I have named. ' Soma are enormously wealthy. One nan may own tract as big as - 1 lHwiliMWH ! -Battle Against Modern ! " Western county, with a hundred vil lages paying tribute to him and subject to his wildest vagaries of despotism. And so long as he greases the palm of ths Chinese yamen functionary of that quarter he haa nothing to fear; he can lay the stripes on the backs of his tribesmen as thickly ss he pi ease a Social law and order are controlled by whims. Justice Is translated to mean the passing humor of the chieftain. So I have found that in this awakening of China, petty tyrants can still torture, plunder and murder to the utmost limits of their devilish Ingenuity. Slav trading Is common. If a tenant cannot pay his tribute he sells himself for the debt to his landlord and becomes a slave, with his head always endangered. In the early days, when the clans forced their way farther and farther Into the hills, every warrior laid hold of as much land as he could. Decades of civil wsrs and feuds thinned out the Nou-su. but In the end they came out top dog In the scrimmage, with the once-powerful Mlao-tsl tribe of the hills underneath. In serfdom. Ever sines the Nou-su have been devoted practitioners of ths Indescribable arta of torture as sociated with the bad old days of Chinese beginnings. Fittest Only Survive. Every Nou-su Is not a landlord, of course. Not every member of the race has survived the test thst Is governed by unadulterated belief in the survival of the fittest. That principle of selec tion still rules as ths recognised fac tor of existence. But It is a fact that whenever a landlord Is met, he Is either a Nou-su or a Chinaman, and no Hua Malo Is higher than a serf. Among the Nou-su. however, there are castes and hereditary distinctions established In early prowess in brigand enterprises. There are the Black Bones, as they style themselves: the aristocrats of the race the Nou-su bluebloods, and ths White Bones, ths lower breeds, who obey to the letter ths directions of their caste superiors. Europeans knowing the language of these tribes can bs numbered on the fingers of one hsnd. One grows accustomed to hearing of assassination among the Nou-su. It Is the rsgular and respectable .method of advancement. "Watch for the opportu nity, then strike your neit-Coor neigh of Subjects Baceg. 12 v . .. bor." seems to be the motto. It Is so convenient to annex an estate adja cent to your own. These are the red letter days in a Nou-su calendar other wise filled with licentiousness and self Indulgence. The worst Westerner who ever blackened his record with vice and crime would stand appalled-at the abandonment of the Nou-su. Tet over every one of them hangs the perpetual dread of treachery- Seer-it hatreds are rife in every family. The man who can murder his enemy, grab his land and then escape acot free Is counted a man of skill and honor. If they had such things as elections they would run him for President. No sense of crime, as westsrn nations under stand It, aver disturb them, and they know how easy t is to evade the Chi nese law. Brother Slays Brother. Testerday I heard of a man, quite a youngster, but already wealthy, who killed his brother and laid hold of his state. Often I have been told of a slave being tortured to death. Once I spoke to a Chinese magistrate in protest. He smiled blandly, then looked wise and said. "I quite see your point, but the victim . was the landlord's slave and I am powerless." Probably the old scoundrel's treasury was richer by a bribe or two, but he was careful to head me off from further inter vention by pointing out that a slave, a wife or a son are personal property, and may be killed if the owner so wills. Net long ago a Nou-su saw a girl he fancied while out collecting his rent. She pleased his eye to perfection, so he ordered his men to kidnap her. She escaped, so hs offered a hundred taels reward for anyone who would deliver her at his home. That set all the villains of that villainous quarter on her track. The landowner got the girl, but he was so enraged by the delay that he had her father killed because he refused to force her to enter his harem. No punishment has followed this double crime. Nou-su women, their feet unbound (as distinct from the bound feet of the Chinese women), with high foreheads and well-cut features, tall and healthy, would be considered handsome In any country. They rarely lnter-marry with other tribes. A good deal of affection undoubtedly exists between husband and wife and between parents and children, but the looseness of the mar-, rlage relation leads to unending strife. Most wealthy Nou-su have several wives, but there are some cases in which, under the influence or mission arles, the first wife is the only one chosen for motherhood. Many European travelers and mis sionaries have been murdered from time to time in the country peopled by the Independent branches of the Lolo race. Though I nave not oeen through the heart of the Lolo region, I have fringed the outskirts, and have ftmnd the people mostly hospitable and fairly easy to get along with. They regard the Chinaman as their natural enemy, to be robbed and murdered on slrht. but It does not follow that all strangers are in the same category of hatred. It Is probable many Euro peans, who have fallen victims at their hands. Incurred hostility by their own errors, either a total Ignorance of the language, or an attitude that excited suspicion. Like the far nobler Romans, the Nou-au are ruining themselves by dis solute living. Steadily the more en lightened Chinaman Is pressing for ward towards a state In which the feudalism of these tribal fragments of humanity must disappear. In years to come, travelers will be perplexed at finding hereabouts fine, upstanding. Chinamen, with regular features, atraight limbs, light complexions and a peculiar Mongol look. They will be the remnants of the ancient tyrants. The Nou-su, as an independent people, will have joined the lost -lbes. with little record on the pages of history to mark their period of activity and power. POSTAL STRIKE BREWING Australian Service Threatened With Revolt Over Wages. MELBOURNE. May 6. (Special.) Serious trouble Is threatened In the Australian postoffice service. In the lower grades a revolt is in progress against existing conditions, particular ly rates of pay, and from the various states pressure Is being brought to bear on the Federal Government to grant redress. Some of the sectional as sociations of employes have gone so far as to threaten a general strike un less their demands are complied with. It is alleged by the workers that the service Is losing the few attractions it formerly had. . The continued rise In the cost of living, they assert, renders It Impossible to keep body and soul to gether on the wages now paid, and marriage Is not to be dreamed of. On the other hand, the Public Service Com missioner, one of whose functions it is to Inquire Into such complaints, has examined the alleged grievances, and as "a result he declines to admit that they are substantial. This verdict has added fuel to the flre and has led to the presentation of what is virtually an ultimatum to the Federal Ministry. The threat of a strike has aroused no little public resentment, and the Indications are that there would be little sympathy for those who took up on themselves to Inflict so grave an Injury on the country. No resentment, however, appears to have been shown by Mr. Fisher, the premier, and his colleagues, and fears are expressed that the coercion to which labor govern ments seem to be peculiarly amenable may result In the granting of conces sions not warranted by the circum stances. How that coercion operates In the last resort Is sufficiently Indicated In the words of the president of the Syd ney letter carriers', mail drivers' and assistants' association, who said: "We shall go to the ballot box. We are 20, 000 strong, and with our wives, our sweethearts, and our daughters we are a power in the land." NORTH SEA SIEGE FAILS Maneuvers Show "German Gibral tar" to Be Invulnerable. BERLIN. May . (Special.) The newspapers announce that siege ma neuvers wblcn have just taken place at Heligoland have proved that "Germany's Gibraltar in the i.ortn sea ts abso lutely Invulnerable. Fine defensive work was done from the heights of the Island by heavy artillery, and It Is stated that the approach of a hostile fleet could be easily detected, in the glare of the searchlight, for a distance of many miles. Vessels of the High Seas fleet played the role of the enemy, but were unable to carry out anything In the nature of an effective attack. The "National Zei tung" learns that a similar attack and defense of Heligoland, on a somewhat more elaborate scale, will be carried out before the Kaiser during the summer. Enter the "Toothpick Building." Memphis Commercial Appeal. "The Toothpick" is an appropriate name for a new baby skyscraper that Is soon to be erected on the west side of Main street, just north of the Madi son avenue corner. A feature about the building Is that It will stand 12 stories hlsrh. or 150 feet above the sidewalk, on a base the maximum width of which Is IS feet and one men. As rar as can be ascertained, no city in. the world has such a building. It will be devoted largely to offices for physicians and dentists. , STRICT PROPRIETY BATTLES WITH WORLDLINESS IN KAISERIN'S NATURE Augnsta Victoria Is Puzzle to German Court, Demanding Almost Intolerant Morality on One Hand, and Fighting for Ultra-Magnificence in All State Affairs at Other Times. 'SBSBBSamaBaaBBSBBS lh Vr -t m JjU Fin iiite''v1' 1 h lly ' l "1 m JSS ,II,B"" 1 I - V . A ls?S2:S5sa-- jw. Aawaa? I 1 ..- A . t r- - - BERLIN, May 6. (Special. Somewhere beyond Potsdam there ts an umbrageous dell where on Sunday afternoon Berliners make merry, much armor-clad- sandwiches and drink beer. Once Into this dell In a yellow automobile flashed the vij.rin When the car broke down the merry Berliners behaved without respect, and mocked th'e chauffeur's vow that ths motorist was the Kaiser ln. "L mvself am the Kalserin." Jeered pert servant girl with a red nose. "The TCnisarln 1 a srrandmother. and tni lady is young," said another. Thereupon the Kalserin, says the agreeable legend, took oft her hat, showed the presump tuous her snow-white hair, and the sobered merry-makers begged pardon, lifted their hats and dispersed con tritely. Kalserin Looks Young. This attractive story was invented by some one to symbolize Germany's growing bewilderment with the Kalser in. Germany is beginning to wonder h. TTalaorin VOUnC Or Old! and what she means by getting younger In ways the older sne gets in years. The hat deepens the mystery, for the Kalserin has an exceedingly youth ful face and were It not for her snow white hair would be taken for 35. When the white hair is uncovered, 52-year-old Augusta Victoria Is distinctly elderly, severe, grave and majestic But when she appears to the world In a hat, she gives a very different Impres sion. The hat, of course. Is big and modish, not designed in dowdy Berlin, but cun ningly contrived to hide the hoarfrost of vy ears. And under its magic Influ ence the elderly Kalserin seems to dis appear. Instead, one sees a youthful, smooth face, two bright, twinkling eyes, enlivened by honest Interest In the sinful world, an agreeable smile, and sometimes a pleasant expression that might almost be described as co quettish. But again, a fortnight later, you see the Kalserin without the re juvenating hat, and she seems a very imperial and elderly personage, so ex alted above mortal weakness that you cannot conceive her wearing a hat at all. Tou wonder rather where she has put her rightful adornment, a heavenly crown. Tes. the Kalserin Is a puzzle. For years past two souls have contended i h.r Kiie-ht and pliant body, and neither has conquered. One of them makes for superhuman propriety, peace, monastic seclusion, and a some what intolerant morality; out mo uw Is resolutely fighting for worldllness, courtly state, magnificence and glitter. The first and unworldly soul has suc- tn i Tnnirinff- OrnanT'i court the dullest and most decorous In Europe. The second ana woriojy aia maue the most showy In history. Two Natures at War. The two souls are never at peace. One day you hear that Augusta Vic toria has Issued regulations restricting the dancing of married women. Next day you read she has complained that her court ladles and maids of honor have not worn enough gems. On the third day learn she has rebuked the Potsdamer military for holding a bazaar on Sunday, but on the fourth you are Informed that she has spent 200,000 on pearls. But the greatest puzzle of all Is that tMs dual Kalserin is something new. The Kalserin of 20 years ago had only one soul, an unworldly one. The world ly side of the Kalserin is a recent phe nomenon, and the older the Kalserin gets the more It comes Into vision. About two decades ago, when she was young and pretty, the Kalserin was proud to be the worst-dressed woman at Berlins uourt. in vain Kaiser Wilhelm pleaded with his con sort to think more of externals. What Prince Buelow praised as "old-Prus sian thrift" had permeated her very being. She had herself been brought ud thriftily and piety went hand In .hand wlta ttnllt. The pietjr remains.! Ik s v;! Mi 1 but suddenly the thrift disappeared, and was replaced by splendor. The third-rate Berlin dressmakers were dismissed, and smooth-faced monsieurs from Paris, wth imposing visiting cards, took their place. The astonished Berliners realized that the once dowdy Kalserin was well dressed, and her daughter. Princess Victoria Louise, was well dressed, too. Shaded by a picture hat, with an artistic veil hiding her snow-white hair, the re juvenescent Kalserin suddenly blos somed Into a second Spring a zephyr of s-race. charm and Parisian dainti ness blew through the unattractive German capital. Rebuke Is Given. But this was only in externals. Be hind them, the other Kaisertn remained, white-haired, severe, pious and prud ish as ever. And worldly people who Imagined they could exploit the new born, worldly Kalserin suffered a sharp rebuke. Only last Winter all the pious "Stlftungen" and charitable Institu tions at Potsdam and elsewhere were overhauled at her behest, and the i.h,rif-tori of those who conduct them subjected to rigorous proof. - Backed by ner court preacner. x. Dryander. whom Ango-Saxons call ir- .1.. n.,nlii,t thH Kalserin still Judges men only by their virtues. To her Influence Is ascribed the Kai ser's new crusade against drunkenness i- .. H. Kl oiaawhere. Whether at Potsdam or Berlin, the Kalserin at tends a church service almost aauy. She will have nothing to do with secu- 1 - - ...1.1 mnvomantn. hut She OrOteCtS every man who comes in the name of the church. In fighting for sabDatn oDservance the Kalserin is daily defeated, though never conquered. She has had to face tendency whicn is winning an over Europe. When she became Empress nin RunHnv recreations were the aters, and it was a century too late to war against them. Next oegan a crazo . nritiflh annrtn. Football soread. and behind It rowing and golf. From the beginning Germans played them on Sunday. The Crown Prince was the worst offender. At first he merely skated and played golf; later he played tennis, and a couple of years ago he tnic to viaitine- on Sunday the new Grunewald racecourse. Crown Prince Goes Pace. Crown Princess Cecilie went with him. and last year the Kaiser went. The Empress stayed at home. The Crown Prince proceeded from bad to worse. He ouiit at Monoijou raiace a covered tennis court, where he spent all Sunday whacking balls with his bosom friend. Von Zobeltitz. suddenly von Zobelltz ceased to play. The ex planatlon given was that the Kalserin had failed to Influence her son, but thrdugh one of her court officials she had persuaded the Crown Prince's friend that persistent Sabbath-breaking would damage his chance of promotion at court. This was in harmony with the crar acter of Augusta Victoria as she was before the demoralizing advent of the Parisian hat. But at the same time the Kaiserin's Influence in other mat ters is all on the side of the world. It is she who is responsible for the ultra Byzantine ceremony and excluslveness at court of which Germans loudly com plain. The Kaiser likes show, but he detests formalism. An aristocrat in politics, he is a democrat In society. He is as thick with Germany's rich democ racy the Ballins. Mendelssohns and Krupps as ever Edward VII was with the Cassels, Bassoons and Wilsons. Ha has tried to open his court to them, and today any millionaire who gives a few thousand dollars to the "Kaiser Wilhelm Stlftung" is as good, in the, sovereign's eyes, as a Count descended from Charlemagne. It Is the Kaiserin, born a simple Schleswig-Holstein princess, who op poses this leveling spirit- On the question of court etiquette she has the ideas of Louis Quatorze or of the Uth century Hapsburg Kaisers. She dislikes the Kaiser's habit of coquetting with every rich American who comes along. She opposed the effervescent ways of her daughter-in-law. Crown Princess Cecilie, and tried to wean the future Empress from the engaging simplicity which distinguished her when she mar ried the Crown Prince. But, most of all. the court balls of the past year have shown the conflict between world llness and other-worldliness which rages continually In the Empress' Are Regulated. The other-worldliness was observed In the new dancing regulations. Pretty marriid women who wanted to dance with other women's husbands found that this was forbidden by the order of the day. Everyone yawned, but the Kaiserin sat beside Wilhelm II on a dais and beamed on the assembly the first she had seen which in every respect conformed to her notions of ths "Great Correct." But, alas, the unwordly Kaiserin was not herself beyond reproach. She ap peared in too much Jewelry. Everyone present remarked that the obsession of gems which for years past haa pos sessed the Empress has lately become a mania. At the second court oau it was noticed that her famous pearl necklace has now a fifth row; and ru mor -avs that this fifth row alone has cost $250,000. At the same ball the Empress wore a new emerald bracelet composed of stones of unexampled size and the front of her gown was so covered with diamonds and pearls that none of the material could be seen. The "Hofdamen and other court ladles glittered with almost equal brUllanpy, A r
