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.