THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGI
TTLE NATION IN CHINA
KNOWS NO WORLD WAR
9 ,.
4,000,000 PERSONS IN WILDS OF
ORIENT WAGE BATTLES
OF THEIR OWN
New York, Feb. 1.-Fifteen thousand
miles from Broadway, in the wilds of
Western China where the foot of a
white man never before had trod, ac-
cording to the Rev. Dr. Beech, a Meth-
odiest missionary, lives a polygot na-
tion of more than 4,000,000 persons
"95 percent of whom do not know that
there has been a war."
Dr. Beech, who is president of the
Western China Union University at
Chengtu in the province of Ezechuan,
maintained by five evangelistical de-
nominations of England, Canada and
the United States, and who recently
arrived here to participate in the
Methodist Centenary, today told of a
journey he took alone, with a native
guide, last summer far into the'depths
of the habitat of " the 'tu-ren, or chil-
dren of the soil', the strangest people
in the. Orient."
Every Type of Mankind.
The doctor passed three weeks
among the 2 or more tribes in the
land, which is as inaccessible as Thib-
et, he said, and while there found al-
most every type of mankind, including
pygmies, men and women resembling
negroes, American Indians, East In-
dians, Gurkhas, South Sea Islanders,
Europeans and other races apparent-
ly from all four quarters of the globe.
These people, of course, he said, had
never been anywhere else than in the
country he found them, namely, in a
region about the size of New York
state, bounded on the north by the
province of Kansu, the south by Bur-
mah, Yunan and Kweechow, the east
by Szechuan and the west by Thibet.
"I found a land of beautiful valleys,
covered with fine farms and home-
staids," said the explorer missionary,
"while towering above them were
mountains from 6,000 to 18,000 feet
high. The frontier of the country was
protected by queer looking stone for-
tified buildings, manned by natives
armed with weapons resembling the
old-fashioned blunderbuss. It is not
impossible that these people were the
riginators of gunpowder, for the
Chinese who for years have tried to
rule them admit it is of better quality
than the powder they make them-
selves.
Hostile to Chinese.
"Although suspicious and warlike,
and hostile to some kinds of Chinese,
the 'tu-ren' proved to be most hospit-
able and fed and sheltered us. Huge
smokestacks in their communities
gave them the appearance o thriving
industrial cities. When we arrived
we found they were employed solely
for the purpose of drying and curing
vegetables, meat and fish, which were
suspended tier upon tier the entire
height of the chimney.
"The architecture of the country
was distinctively foreign to China, re-
sembling in many respects the feudal
castles of Normandy. In other res-
pects it was not unlike the structures
of Babylonia and Palestine. Grain,
for instance, after being harvested,
was threshed upon the roofs of the
houses, just as in the Holy Land. The
houses themselves are nothing more
than boxes with perhaps one window
from which the odors and smoke of
cooking escapes.
Fly 'Prayer Flags.'
"On top of practically all the forti-
fied 'castles' a flag was flown. I was
told these were 'prayer flags' and had
no special tribal or patriotic signifi-
cance. Every man in the country, ap-
parently is 'a law unto himself.' Each
tribe has its chieftain but there is no
national head and China exercises only
nominal sovereignty.
"Quarrels are settled on horseback
by means of blunderbussses, spaers,
bags of stones and broadswords. The
enemies challenge one another and at
a given signal ride full tilt on small,
wiry ponies, at each other. It is sel-
dom that both combatants escape alive
but the survivor is required to feed
and clothe the family of his dead ad-
versary as long as they live and this
makes 'duels' rare. In many respects
these combats resemble the tourna-
ments of the Middle Ages."
"How so many different types of
people located there is a problem for
the ethnologist" resumed Dr. Beech.
"One theory is that they represent all
the warring tribal elements, that have
come into the continent of Asia and
driven by the. Mongols and Tartars,
made their last stand in this natural
refuge between India, China and the
northern part 'of Asia.
Tribes are Independent.
"Each tribe is independent of the
other, all ,speak a patois of Thibetan
and Turkestan, and their religion
seems to be animistic or that of the
Llamas. The most numerous are the
Lolos, which, again are subdivided
into smaller tribes. Others are the
Miaos, who are polyandrous or polyg-
amous. These people, I believe, are
responsive to Christian influences and
kind treatment and 150 missionaries
would bring to them the enlighten-
ment they so much need. Nothing has
ever been done for them by civiliza-
tion.
Speaking of the possibilities for ex-
panding trade in the Orient, Dr. Beech
declared China alone could enable the
great Powers to recoup their war loss-
es. "They are hungry for American
goods," he said, "and the field is un-
limited. The Chinese people are high-
ly cultured, even the poor coolies, and
they desire only the best things. Chi-
na is rich in untold undeveloped re-
YANKS IN RUSSIA
SUFFER NO HARM
Lansing, Mich., Feb. 1.-The general
health, discipline and morale of the
American troops in Russia is good, ac-
cording to a cablegram received yes-
terday by Governor Sleeper from Pres-
ident Wilson. It was sent in reply to
a cable from the governor asking as-
surances that Michigan troops were
not suffering.
The president's statement is based
on a report made by Col. Stewart,
commanding the American troops in
Russia. The cable reads:
"Replying to your cable of Jan. 7,"
the president's message reads, "a re-
cent report from Col. Stewart, com-
manding the American forces in Rus-
sia, says that after a complete tour of
inspection he finds, the general health
discipline and morale of the troops to
be excellent.
"Their living conditions are good,
except at advanced outposts, where
the usual field conditions exist. The
front-line troops are rotated, in or-
der to prevent undue hardships.
"Sanitary conditions and conveni-
ences are most primitive, but the
clothing and equipment are excellent.
The men have become accustomed to
the rigors of the primitive condition of
life there and are performing most
valuable services.
"The American soldiers are scat-
tered with the Allied troops over a
front of 40 miles. Usually not more
than one American company is serving
intact at any one place.
"You will see from this report that
conditions seem generally as satis-
factiry as they can be made.
(Signed)
"WOODROW WILSON."
sources. Make it possible to develop
the ersources of China and the Chinese
people will become the greatest ag-
gregation of purchasers in the world."
The Daily at your door every morn-
ing, $2.50 until June.-Adv.
---
Take her a box of home
made candy!
Pure Cream Caramels,
Peppermint, Lime and
Wintergreen Wafers, Maple Pecan Puffs, Butter-
scotch Patties, and Many others.
i
U
BUSY BEE
P. S.' See our window
1
Whitney TheatreThurs.,Feb.6
Going Direct to Olympic, Chicago
JOHN CORT, producer of "Princess Pat," "Flora
Bella", "k10 Flo," "Gloriana" and Listen Lester"
Offers the
Most Brilliant and Glorious Musical Comedy of the Year
Fiddlers
Three
Ivith Tabie IVelge
Hook and lyrics by Wm. Carey Duncan. Musie by Alexander
Johnston*. Radiant wish music, melody, happiness, and
the original N. Y. Cort Theater east of Hal Skeltey, Louise
. :Groody, Tbomas Conkey,'Joseph Miller, Cora Mayo, Josit
Intrepodi, Gilbert Clayton, Henry Leonl, Echlin Gayer, Seibel
-Layman and Kling-Helen, and a
j Class A-s BeautyB attahon
Two Cars of Scenery-Augmented Orchestra
cFifty )'Jerry People
Prices--Balcony 75c, $1, $1.50; Lower $1.50, $2. Mail orders
now. 10 per cent war tax. Window Sale, Tuesday, a. m.