Show CHINESE OBJECTIONS What are the reasons given by the more enlightened Chinamen for their opposition to Western methods The director of the Chinese Imperial telegraph tele-graph Sheng Taotol has recently an swered this question In an Interview with a German merchant which we find quoted In the Frankfurter Zeltung antI from which we take the following The Introduction of European methods meth-ods would be dtaaslrouH to the Chinese pcgplc Ior thousands of yearn the fhinoHc have carried on certain house and home Industries which would have to bo destroyed to the utter ruin of those dependert upon them Cloth shoes paperware earthenware etc have always been produced In certain families How could the introduction of macnlnery benefit these people Even If their work hours were recced by malting thor wageslaves retced would not benefit as they would hardly know Jiow to employ their free tme Gambling opiumsmoking and t bln oilier ant vices would Increase Nor is It likely that there would be higher wages or I with higher wages a greater tendency to save Trusts and trades unions are I In China longestablished Institutions I Sixty per cent of the population ot China live by agriculture and the callings Intimately connected with it Can any one suppose that the Introduction Introduc-tion of machinery In agriculture which I would merely rob the people of their living could benollt the country The social conditions of the people would I undoubtedly bo rendered wtjo The I economic wisdom and conditions of the < I I West cannot be transplanted to China I Hundreds 1 of years ago even oomc prosperous pros-perous mines had to be closed by Imperial Im-perial edict because the agricultural I laborers flocked to the noW Industry and the surrounding country was I threatened with famine for want of hands There IB of course room for Improvement The system of irrigation I irriga-tion might be Improved reservoirs which have been damaged or destroyed I 1 by rebellions Inundations or by age should be renewed But the basis for reform Is agricultural I Improvement No doubt tho ICS of the people object I ob-ject lo European methods I Is a sta tistlcal fact that famines have Increased In-creased during the sixty years In which I so many free pOts have been granted r to the foreigners There is no better I argument than the condition of India The Chinese see that India Is covered with agricultural produce intended mainly for export and covered with railroads intended to take away that produce while the people starve and the plague ravages the weakened populace I pop-ulace Shcng added that for many years he was an enthusiastic advocate of the Introduction In-troduction and development of European Euro-pean industries In China until close study of the subject convinced him oC his mistake Translation made for the Literary Digest |