younger business and professional men of the city, arranged
for the preparation of a complete project for the future
development of Chicago. The next year the Merchants’ Club was
merged with the Commercial Club under the name of the latter
organization, and the city-planning work was continued under
the auspices of that body." The resulting "Plan of Chicago"
was reported in the course of the summer of 1909. "The report
represents about thirty months’ work by men whose thoughts for
years have dwelt upon the subject of city building and
beautification. The work was in charge of Daniel H. Burnham,
chief architect and director of works of the World’s Columbian
Exposition of 1893, who gave his services to his city without
compensation for the purpose of this report. Even so, the
expense of preparing and publishing the report has
approximated $75,000, all raised by voluntary subscriptions
from the business men of Chicago."
_George C. Sikes,
The New Chicago
(The Outlook, August 28, 1909)._
{82}
CHICAGO: A. D. 1909 (May).
The Second National Peace Congress.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1909.
CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL TRANSCONTINENTAL LINE.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909.
CHI-KUAN-SHAN, Fort, Capture of.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY).
----------CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: Start--------
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW:
As Dependents:
England: The Poor Law Children.
The following is from a speech in Parliament June 17, 1909, by
Mr. John Burns, President of the Local Government Board, which
administers the Poor Laws and the Public Health Laws:
"In England and Wales there were 235,000 children supported by
the rates either inside or outside Poor Law institutions, and
of these 70,000 were in cottage homes, barrack schools,
scattered homes, and similar institutions. The cost per child
maintained in cottage homes varied from 12s. 9d. to 25s. 2d.
per week, and in scattered homes from 8s. 6d. to 11s. 2d. At
this moment the number of children in workhouse schools, which
in 1870 was 29,000, was only from 500 to 600; 19,000 of the
Poor Law children were being educated in elementary schools
outside. … With regard to sick children he was delighted to
hear the almost unanimous chorus of appeal that the Local
Government Board should do a great deal by administration.
They had, in fact, transferred 1,000 out of the 2,500 sick
children from the London workhouses and infirmaries to an
institution on the healthy and breezy downs of Surrey at
Carshalton, where they could be better treated, and where they
would recover much more quickly than in any of the workhouses
and infirmaries in London. If he could find more buildings or
institutions available he would transfer more children. He
should not rest until all the sick children throughout the
country were transferred from workhouses and infirmaries to
institutions in the country where they would recover health
more rapidly."
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW:
United States: Proposed Federal Child Bureau.
Transmitting to Congress, on the 5th of February, 1909, the
proceedings of a conference held at Washington on the care of
dependent children, President Roosevelt accompanied it with a
message, in which he urged the establishment of a Bureau in
one of the Departments of the Federal Government, to
centralize attention to the subject; with the enactment of
such legislation as will bring the laws and practices in
regard to the care of dependent children in all Federal
territory into harmony, and certain legislation in behalf of
dependent children in the District of Columbia. The President
maintained that such legislation is important not only for the
welfare of the children immediately concerned, but "as setting
an example of a high standard of child protection by the
National Government to the several States of the Union, which
should be able to look to the nation for leadership in such
matters."
Statistics showing the large number of dependent children in
the country were presented by Mr. Roosevelt. "Each of these
children, he said, represents either a potential addition to
the productive capacity and the enlightened citizenship of the
nation, or, if allowed to suffer from neglect, a potential
addition to the destructive forces of the community. The ranks
of criminals and other enemies of society are recruited in an
altogether undue proportion from children bereft of their
natural homes and left without sufficient care. The interests
of the nation are involved in the welfare of this army of
children no less than in our great material affairs."
In urging a Children’s Bureau, one of whose duties will be to
investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the
welfare of children and child life, the President pointed out
that "the National Government is the only agency which can
effectively conduct such general inquiries as are needed for
the benefit of all our citizens."
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW:
As Dependents and as Offenders:
England: The Children Act of 1908.
Infant Life Protection.
Reformatory and Industrial Schools.
Treatment of Youthful Criminals.
No death-sentence for them.
Special "Places of Detention."
Juvenile Courts.
An act entitled The Children Act, passed by the Parliament of
the United Kingdom in December, 1908, and which came into
effect April 1, 1909, has such importance that it has been
described as "The Children’s Charter." According to its full
title it is "An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating
to the Protection of Children and Young Persons, Reformatory
and Industrial Schools and Juvenile Offenders, and otherwise
to amend the Law with respect to Children and Young Persons."
It gathers into one great enactment nearly everything in which
the guardianship of Law can be specially extended to them,
except the matters of education and child labor, which are
subjects of distinct legislation. It repeals wholly twenty-one
previous enactments and amends more or less seventeen more. It
contains 134 sections and fills a so-called Parliamentary
"White Book" of 93 pages.
As used in the Act, the word "child" means a person under 14
years; the expression "young person" means one above that age,
but under sixteen.
The Act is divided into six parts, which are concerned with
the following main subjects:
(1) Infant Life Protection.
(2) The Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Young Persons.
(3) Juvenile Smoking.
(4) Reformatory and Industrial Schools.
(5) Juvenile Offenders.
(6) Miscellaneous and General.
The provisions for "infant life protection" have to do mainly
with the supervision of "baby-farming." Foster parents are
forbidden to insure the life of a nurse-child and insurance
companies are forbidden to accept any such insurance.
Juvenile smoking is dealt with very drastically, the penalties
for selling cigarettes or the material for making them to
persons under sixteen years of age being sharp, and both
policemen and park-keepers in uniform being empowered to take
such materials from the persons of Juvenile smokers.
{83}
The part of the Act which relates to reformatory and
industrial schools enables the Courts to deal effectively with
youthful offenders without subjecting them to the prison
taint. Boys or girls between the ages of 12 and 16 who are
convicted of offences punishable in the case of adults with
penal servitude or imprisonment may be sent to a certified
reformatory school. In certain defined cases, children may be
taken from depraved or drunken parents and consigned to a
certified industrial school. In these cases the child may be
brought before the Court by any person in order that the
provisions of the Act may be set in force. Parents who are
unable to control their children may themselves take advantage
of the Act, and in these cases the Court may place the
children under the supervision of a probation officer instead
of sending them to an industrial school. In all cases of
children who are liable to be consigned to an industrial
school, there is given to the Courts the alternative power of
committing them to the care of relatives or other fit persons
with or without the supervision of the probation officer.
The most important part of the Act, perhaps, is that relating
to juvenile offenders. It allows no young person under sixteen
years of age to be sentenced to death. "Sentence of death,"
says this Law, "shall not be pronounced on or recorded against
a child or young person, but in lieu thereof the Court shall
sentence the child or young person to be detained during his
Majesty’s pleasure."
In future, also, no child may be sentenced to imprisonment or
penal servitude for any offence, or committed to prison in
default of payment of a fine, damages, or costs. No young
person may be sentenced to penal servitude for any offence,
nor may he be sentenced to imprisonment or committed to prison
in default of payment of a fine or costs, unless the Court
certifies that he is of so unruly a character or so depraved
that it is not desirable to send him to a "place of detention"
provided under the Act. These provisions relating to the
substitution of "detention" for imprisonment did not come into
force until January 1, 1910.
This part of the Act makes elaborate arrangements for the
treatment of youthful criminals, both before and after trial.
Special "places of detention" are to be opened in all petty
sessional divisions. Here children will be placed on arrest
(if for some special reason they cannot be released on a
recognizance), or after being remanded or committed for trial.
Here they may be kept in custody instead of being lodged in
gaol if they are sentenced to terms of imprisonment of less
than one month. Persons under 16 years of age must also be
tried in special "juvenile Courts," unless they are charged
jointly with adult offenders. A "juvenile Court" must sit
"either in a different building or room from that in which the
ordinary sittings of the Court are held, or on different days
or at different times from those at which the ordinary
sittings are held." Only the Court officials, those directly
interested in the case, and the representatives of the Press
may be admitted to these Courts, unless the special leave of
the magistrate is obtained. Every effort is to be made, both
before and after trial, to prevent the association of children
with adult criminals. Finally, parents and guardians are to be
required to attend the hearing of charges against their
children or wards, and may be ordered to pay any fines,
damages, or costs imposed.
The miscellaneous provisions of the Act include a number of
importance, to prevent the giving of intoxicating liquors to
children, to exclude them from drinking places, to safeguard
them at entertainments, and to make the Act applicable to
Scotland and Ireland.
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: As Offenders:
Canadian provision for Separate Detention,
Reformatory Imprisonment, etc.
The Canadian Prisons and Reformatory Act of 1906 provides
that—"Young persons apparently under the age of sixteen years
who are,
(a) arrested upon any warrant; or,
(b) committed to custody at any stage of a preliminary inquiry
into a charge for an indictable offence; or,
(c) committed to custody at any stage of a trial, either for
an indictable offence or for an offence punishable on summary
conviction; or,
(d) committed to custody after such trial, but before
imprisonment under sentence;
shall be kept in custody separate from older persons charged
with criminal offences and separate from all persons
undergoing sentences of imprisonment, and shall not be
confined in the lock-ups or police stations with older persons
charged with criminal offences or with ordinary criminals."
Other sections of the Act confer discretionary authority on
courts and magistrates to sentence convicted offenders whose
age does not exceed sixteen years, and whose offence is
punishable by imprisonment, to reformatory prisons, for not
less than two nor more than five years; also, in certain
cases, to commit such offenders to a certified industrial
school, from which they may sometimes be permitted to be taken
for apprenticeship to any respectable and trustworthy person.
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW:
The George Junior Republic.
Much attention has been turned from many directions, within
the last few years, upon the reformatory experiment which
bears the name of The George Junior Republic. From an ordinary
undertaking to give a few summer weeks of country fresh air to
a group of neglected, roughly-bred boys, out of the slums of
the City of New York, it has grown into a unique institution,
which remolds character and refashions life for hundreds of
the young of both sexes, who had been given wrong startings in
the world by the circumstances into which they were born. It
has done this by the simple method of organizing them into a
self-governing community,—a republic in which they are
citizens, invested with all the responsibilities, duties, and
cares that go with republican citizenship in its larger
spheres. They make and administer its laws, conduct its public
business and its politics, manage its institutions, generate
and have experience of its public opinion. The moral and
social influence of this training has now been proved by more
than a decade of success.
This remarkable organization was not framed up by its
architect, Mr. William R. George, on the lines of a
preconceived theory, but took its shape slowly from
suggestions of experience as they came.
{84}
He began in 1890 to take companies of boys of the hoodlum
class from New York City to his place of summer residence, at
Freeville, a few miles from Ithaca and not far from Auburn,
New York. He found it hard to rule them, and no satisfactory
corrections of wrong-doing and bad behavior could be devised.
Physically they were bettered by their summer outings, but he
could not see much gain in other ways. This continued for some
seasons before his experiments with them began. The first to
be applied was a rule that such articles of clothing and the
like as had formerly been given to the boys must be paid for
in work. At the outset they resented the idea; but before the
summer was over they were all cheerfully at work, and the tone
of the party was much improved. In the next year culprits, who
robbed orchards and committed other misdemeanors, were
arraigned before the whole community, for a hearing and a
public verdict as to their guilt. Hard labor at stone-breaking
and the building of a road now became the penalty for
wrong-doing, and, presently, there was a boy constable to see
that they did their work.
So, step by step, from year to year, the fabric of
self-government and self-supporting industry was constructed,
until the Junior Republic emerged, with its President and
other executive officers, its representative legislature, its
courts, its police, its own monetary system and bank,—a
political and industrial commonwealth of boys and girls (for
both sexes have been included), taken out of a derelict class
for treatment by this simple inoculation with social
responsibilities. Writing of the George Junior Republic in
1908, Dr. Lyman Abbott said:
"It now has as a territory a hundred and fifty acres of land
owned by the Board of Trustees, and the practical use of a
hundred and fifty more belonging to Mr. George and some other
friends of the Republic who have made their home here because
such residence affords them an opportunity to give guidance
and inspiration to the boys and girls. The citizens, i. e. the
boys and girls in the Republic, number upwards of a hundred
and fifty. They are in some cases signed over to the Republic
by the parents, in other cases practically committed on
suspended sentences by the courts. They are extraordinarily
free within the territory, but are not free to leave it.
Laundry, baking, carpentry, and printing are the principal
trades indoors; road-making and land improvement the principal
industries out-of-doors. There are two jails, one for the
boys, one for the girls; a library, a school-house, a chapel,
bank, and a well-organized banking and currency system. There
is a court, and there is a judge, who is elected every year by
the citizens. From this court an appeal lies in certain cases
to a Supreme Court chosen by the boys from the Board of
Trustees, but this court only passes on the regularity of the
proceedings in the court below, that is, on what might be
regarded as equivalent to constitutional and jurisdictional
questions. There are a President, a Vice-President, a
Secretary of State, and a Secretary of the Treasury, all of
whom are elected annually; the three latter officers
constituting the Police Commissioners, the Board of Health,
and the President’s Cabinet. There are both a girl and a boy
District Attorney, who are appointed by the President, and
certain police officers and prison keepers. All citizens of
the Republic, both boys and girls, over fourteen years of age,
are voters; no one can remain a citizen after twenty-one. The
legislature has been abolished by the citizens themselves, and
all laws are made in town meeting, which is held once a month.
…
"The Republic has been in existence long enough to give the
experiment a fair trial, and the results justify the
expectations of its friends. In round numbers, about five
hundred have gone out from the Republic into life, most of
them taken from the class of boys and girls whose environment
was fruitful of crime and whose tendency was toward a criminal
career. Of these five hundred two or three are known to have
returned to crime, and five or six have disappeared entirely.
But of these eight or ten failures not one was in the Republic
more than a few months—not long enough to get the benefit of
the training. The other four hundred and ninety are known to
be earning an honest livelihood by honorable labor; and of
these four hundred and ninety, twenty have either graduated
from college, are now in college, or are just preparing to
enter college. At this writing two new Republics are about
being organized, one in Georgia and one in California, and a
movement is on foot for the organization of a National
Association."
Some months later than the above account of the Junior
Republic there were reported to be kindred organizations
modelled upon it in Connecticut and Maryland, with movements
to the same end in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey, as well as in some countries abroad. Mr. Thomas M.
Osborne, of Auburn, who has been from an early day the chief
supporter of Mr. George in his work, said recently in a
published letter:
"I believe that the success of the Junior Republic idea, as we
have worked it out during the last fourteen years, is no
longer dependent upon Mr. George, its originator, or upon any
one man. Its established principles will now live on into the
far future, and work the sure righting of thousands of
youngsters gone wrong in every section of the greater
republic."
But it may work much more than "the sure righting of thousands
of youngsters gone wrong." It may, if its working widens and
roots itself among the institutions of the future, as it seems
likely to do, have a very potent and positive political
influence in the world. If men and women representative of a
class that is now troublesome to democracy, politically as
well as otherwise, should by and by be brought in large
numbers yearly from graduation in the Young Republic training
schools of imitative citizenship, to be joined with their
elders in larger spheres of more entire self-government, are
they not likely to introduce a profounder change in the
operation of republican institutions than can now be foreseen?
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: Juvenile Courts.
Their origin and development.
A collection of reports on "Children’s Courts in the United
States," prepared for the International Prison Commission and
edited by Mr. Samuel J. Barrows, Commissioner for the United
States, was published in 1904 as House Document No. 701 of the
58th Congress, 2d Session. The following account of the origin
of the now widely established Juvenile Courts of America and
Europe, and of their development in the United States during
the first four years of their existence, is derived from those
reports.
{85}
Commissioner Barrows opens his introduction to the collected
reports with the following remarks:
"If the question be asked, 'What is the most notable
development in judicial principles and methods in the United
States within the last five years?’ the answer may
unhesitatingly be, ‘The introduction and establishment of
juvenile courts.’ Never perhaps has any judicial reform made
such rapid progress. Beginning in Chicago in 1899, this
institution has sprung up in city after city and State after
State until it is now established in eight States and eleven
large cities. This progress has been made not merely by
changes in procedure or legal technique, nor by the
introduction of a new method; it is most of all by the
introduction of a new spirit and a new aim. … It must not be
supposed that the juvenile court is only a smaller court for
smaller offenders or simply a court holding separate sessions
for such offenders; it represents an altogether different
principle. The juvenile court is a life-saving institute in
society.
"It is scarcely necessary to say that child-saving methods,
institutions, and organizations have long flourished in the
United States. The Northern States have regarded juvenile
reformatories as a part of their correctional equipment, and
the courts have served as vestibules for such institutions;
but they have only been incidentally a part of the process. We
have not before realized what the court might be and do before
resorting to institutions. The children’s court still
maintains relations with the reform school, but it represents
in itself active and vital forces and invokes a whole range of
influence and motives which are personal and formative. It
appeals to the reform school not as the first, but only as the
last resort. The juvenile court has discovered that the child
is a child, and, as Judge Hurley says, ‘The child should be
treated as a child. Instead of reformation, the thought and
idea in the judge’s mind should always be formation. No child
should be punished for the purpose of making an example of
him.’ …
"The methods of children’s courts, or juvenile courts, as they
are termed in some States, differ in different places. In some
States the judge is detailed from some other court; in some
courts but one judge is assigned to this work. In New York
several judges from the court of special sessions act
successively in turn as judges of the children’s court. In
Maryland and Indiana the judges of the children’s courts
exercise this function only, and it is claimed that it is
better than the method of rotation, since the judge who
confines himself to juvenile court cases becomes a specialist
in this work. In Colorado Judge Lindsey is not only judge of
the juvenile court, but also of the county court. He finds
advantage in the fact that in his first capacity he can
protect the child, while as judge of the county court he can
also sentence the guardian or parent who is responsible for
the child’s delinquency.
"An essential feature of every juvenile court is the probation
system and probation officers. Their duty is to investigate
the case before trial, and, if the child is placed on
probation, to exercise watchcare over them until the period of
probation is closed. It is in this way that the parental care
of the State is exerted."
The City of Chicago and the Legislature of Illinois have the
honors of the origination of the Children’s Court as a
distinct creation of law. The Visitation and Aid Society of
Chicago had been laboring since 1891 to secure various
measures of advanced legislation bearing on child-saving,
without much success, until, as related in a report by Mr.
Hurley, of that Society, the Bar Association of Chicago took
the matter in hand, in 1899, and appointed a committee to
press it. This committee drafted the first juvenile court law
ever planned distinctly to that end and secured its enactment
by the Legislature of the State. The law went into force on
the 1st of July, 1899. The Court was soon opened, and Judge
Tuthill, of the Circuit Court of Illinois, who presided in it
from the first, has stated the principles of its constitution
and action in these following words:
"The basic principle of the law is this: That no child under
16 years of age shall be considered or be treated as a
criminal; that a child under that age shall not be arrested,
indicted, convicted, imprisoned, or punished as a criminal. It
of course recognizes the fact that such children may do acts
which in an older person would be crimes and be properly
punishable by the State therefor, but it provides that a child
under the age mentioned shall not be branded in the opening
years of its life with an indelible stain of criminality, or
be brought, even temporarily, into the companionship of men
and women whose lives are low, vicious, and criminal.
"The law divides children into two classes, the ‘dependent’
and the ‘delinquent.’ A dependent child, in the language of
the law, is a child—‘who for any reason is destitute or
homeless or abandoned, or has not proper parental care or
guardianship, or who habitually begs or receives alms, or who
is found living in any house of ill fame or with any vicious
or disreputable person, or whose home, by reason of neglect,
cruelty, or depravity on the part of the parents, guardian, or
other person in whose care it may be, is an unfit place for
such a child.’ A ‘delinquent child’ is defined to be—‘any
child under the age of 16 who violates any law of this State
or any city or village ordinance, or who is incorrigible, or
who knowingly associates with thieves, vicious, or immoral
persons, or who is growing up in idleness or crime, or who
knowingly frequents a house of ill fame, or who knowingly
patronizes any policy shop or place where any gaming device is
or shall be operated.’
"The law places its enforcement upon the judges of the circuit
court, who are required to select one of their number to
perform these duties as a part of the judicial work of such
judge. … The circuit court is a court of original and
unlimited jurisdiction, the highest in the State, and the duty
of holding the juvenile court was placed in the circuit court
(which for convenience is designated the ‘juvenile court’) as
an indication by the legislature of the importance to the
State of the work to be done.
"The case of each child brought into court, whether dependent
or delinquent, becomes of record, and every step taken in the
case is shown upon the court record."
Interest in the Illinois Law was awakened quickly in many
parts of the country, and requests for copies of it, says Mr.
Hurley in his historical sketch, "began to pour in from all
directions. These requests were promptly answered and copies
of the Juvenile Court Record, published by the Visitation and
Aid Society, containing the necessary information, were sent
to applicants.
{86}
Agitation began in other States for a law similar to the one
passed in Illinois, and those who helped to form the Illinois
law were invited to visit other States to explain the measure
and the method of administering the law in Cook County.
"The Illinois law proved so satisfactory that many judges
throughout the country, not wishing to await the action of a
legislature, established branches in their several courts for
children cases only, and in the treatment of the cases applied
the probate and chancery powers of the court. This was the case
especially in Denver, Colorado, where Judge Ben D. Lindsey had
a complete and well-equipped juvenile court and probation
system before the legislature took any action whatever. A like
court was subsequently adopted in Indianapolis by George W.
Stubbs. The two latter courts were carried on practically in
the same way that they have been since laws were adopted by
these States. In most of the States the probation officers are
volunteers."
Judge Lindsey, of Denver, has won celebrity among the
presiding magistrates of the Juvenile Courts by the kindly
shrewdness of the methods by which he has won the confidence,
the admiration and devotion of the boys and girls of his city,
within the classes with which he has to deal. The scene which
his court-room presents on the appointed days when the
delinquents on probation come in a body to report to him and
to be talked to by him has been often described, and it seems
to exemplify a kind of influence that would go farther than
any other in resistance to the vitiating conditions which
surround masses of the young in all cities. Judge Lindsey’s
extended report of his work and experience in the Denver
Juvenile Court, published in the collection referred to above,
is a paper of remarkable interest.
As stated already, the Juvenile Court is now an established
institution in nearly every part of the United States, and in
many countries abroad. It was established in Great Britain by
the notable "Children Act" of 1908 (see above), and was
instituted that year in several of the German cities. A Press
despatch from Berlin, March 15, 1909, reported the opening of
a congress in that city, under the auspices of the German
Association for the Care of the Young, which aims at the
extension of this important reform. "The labors of the
society," says the despatch, "seem to have been stimulated by
the passing of the English Children Act of 1908, a German
translation of which has been distributed to members of the
congress. The movement for the establishment of special Courts
for juvenile offenders was taken up in Germany later than in
some other countries, but has recently made rapid progress.
The first children’s Courts were established on January 1,
1908, at Cologne, Stuttgart, and Breslau, and there are now 26
such Courts in Prussia. Official statistics, however, indicate
that in recent years the total number of juvenile offenders in
Germany has grown about three times as fast as the total
number of offenders of all ages. During 1906, 55,211 persons
under the age of 18 were sentenced, as compared with 51,232 in
1905 and 49,993 in 1904."
At the meeting of the International Prison Commission, at
Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1907, it was significant of the deep
interest which the children’s court has awakened in Europe
that nineteen societies in France, including the Academy of
Moral and Political Sciences, the General Society of Prisons,
and the faculties of law of Paris, Lille, and Montpellier, and
several of the most prominent tribunals in France, asked to
have the whole subject of the organization of children’s
courts elucidated and discussed. A similar interest was shown
in Switzerland and Germany.
In an extended letter to the London _Times_, published
August 19, 1909, Miss Florence Davenport-Hill traced the
origin of children’s courts to Massachusetts, and gave the
following account of their introduction from that source of
suggestion into Australia, and thence, to some extent, into
Great Britain. Miss Davenport-Hill’s statements on the subject
are, in part, as follows:
"Although we hear little now from our earliest exemplar,
Massachusetts—possibly because she has, I believe, cleared
away the class to be dealt with—it is desirable to remember it
was she who evolved the then new principle of absolute
separation of child from adult, and devised its potent
supporter, the probation system—a system affording watchful
and kindly help to strong and maybe wilful weaklings. Thus did
Massachusetts become a noble example, making the way plain for
her successors. Mr. Joseph Sturge, attracted early in the
eighties by reports of the ‘plan,’ visited Boston to
investigate its methods. He describes in a pithy narrative
subsequently published how his highest expectations were
fulfilled; and it is interesting to learn from his pen that
‘the probation system by which juvenile offenders are saved
from imprisonment has been so successful, economically and
morally, that the city of Boston now employs a probation agent
to deal with suitable adult cases in a corresponding manner.’
"A copy of Mr. Sturge’s narrative reached, by good fortune,
the Chief Justice of South Australia, then presiding at a
Royal Commission of inquiry concerning adult and juvenile
dependents on the State. He recognized, and in his forthcoming
report expounded, the value of the Massachusetts plan in its
application to children. The result was the creation by the
South Australian Government of a department, entitled the
State Children’s Council, consisting of 12 ladies and
gentlemen nominated by the State as honorary members, to deal
with erring and neglected children on the lines of that plan.
…
"Nineteen years ago the Children’s Court was opened in
Adelaide, and in October, 1903, thanks, Sir, to your
sympathetic courtesy, the reproduction in _The Times_ of
a letter describing it in the _Melbourne Argus_ from Miss
Alice Henry made known among us its scope, methods, and
success. Gradually Benches of Magistrates in various parts of
Great Britain and of Ireland who led the way tried the
experiment, which was then discovered to be already existing
among us here and there, and in a more or less developed form,
as at Greenwich, Hull, &c."
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: As Workers:
Canada: Child Labor Legislation.
"There is not in any province a comprehensive act dealing with
the subject of child labor as a whole, and even in Ontario,
which has its Factories Act, its Shops Act, its Mines Act, its
Municipal Act, its Truancy Act—all bearing on the matter more
or less directly—it is still possible for young children to be
kept at work by their parents for mercilessly long hours under
sweat-shop conditions.
{87}
Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have neither
Shops nor Factories Acts. Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and
British Columbia have both; Quebec and New Brunswick have
Factories Acts, and six of the provinces have Mines Acts. The
several Factories Acts resemble one another closely. In
general, they prohibit the employment of girls under eighteen
and boys under sixteen in factories where the work is
dangerous or unhealthy; forbid the employment of children
under fourteen in any manufacturing establishment (except
canning factories) in three provinces; limit the hours of
labor for women and children to ten hours a day and sixty
hours a week; and specify the amount of overtime permissible
for these classes of workers. The Shops Acts, upon the whole,
allow greater latitude to the employers of children; thus the
hours of labor are longer and the conditions often not less
injurious than those in factories. Except in Ontario, no age
limit is set under which a child may not begin work in a shop.
Again by the Mines Acts of British Columbia, children of
twelve may be employed above ground, and by those of
Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia boys of twelve may work under
ground. The enforcement of the laws restricting child labor
has, from various causes, proved somewhat inadequate. For
instance, Nova Scotia has had a Factories Act since 1901, but
no inspector of factories till the present year; while
Ontario, with a Truancy Act that, if enforced, would prevent
many children from engaging in unsuitable labor, has vested
the appointment of truancy officers in the municipalities, and
these, in many instances, have neglected to make
appointments."
_The Outlook,
November 14, 1908._
Recent changes in child labor laws in Canada are as follows:
In Ontario the Factories Act limits the working time of boys
under sixteen to ten hours, forbids the employment of children
under twelve within doors, and restricts the privileges
extended to canning factories. The Shops Act is amended by
raising the age limit from ten to twelve years. Manitoba
forbids the employment of minors as bartenders. Alberta has
raised the age limit of children employed in mines from twelve
to sixteen years. British Columbia prohibits the employment of
boys under fourteen and girls under fifteen except in the
canning of fish.
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: England:
The Employment of Children Act, 1903.
An Act "to make Better Provision for Regulating the Employment
of Children" became law in August, 1903. Most of the
responsibility for a proper protective regulation of child
labor was imposed by this enactment on the local authorities
of the Kingdom. Among its provisions were the following:
"1. Any local authority may make byelaws—
(i) prescribing for all children, or for boys and girls
separately, and with respect to all occupations or to any
specified occupation,—
(a) the age below which employment is illegal; and
(b) the hours between which employment is illegal; and
(c) the number of daily and weekly hours beyond
which employment is illegal:
(ii) prohibiting absolutely or permitting, subject to
conditions, the employment of children in any specified
occupation.
"2. Any local authority may make byelaws with respect to
street trading by persons under the age of sixteen. …
"3.
(1) A child shall not be employed between the hours of nine
in the evening and six in the morning: Provided that any
local authority may, by byelaw, vary these hours either
generally or for any specified occupation.
(2) A child under the age of eleven years shall not be
employed in street trading.
(3) No child who is employed half-time under the Factory
and Workshop Act, 1901, shall be employed in any other
occupation.
(4) A child shall not be employed to lift, carry, or move
anything so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to the
child.
(5) A child shall not be employed in any occupation likely
to be injurious to his life, limb, health or education,
regard being had to his physical condition. …
"4.
(1) A byelaw made under this Act shall not have any effect
until confirmed by the Secretary of State, and shall not
be so confirmed until at least thirty days after the local
authority have published it in such manner as the
Secretary of State may by general or special order direct. …
"13. In this Act—The expression ‘child’ means a person under
the age of fourteen years:
"The expression ‘guardian,’ used in reference to a child,
includes any person who is liable to maintain or has the
actual custody of the child:
"The expression ‘employ’ and ‘employment,’ used in reference
to a child, include employment in any labour exercised by way
of trade or for the purposes of gain, whether the gain be to
the child or to any other person: …
"The expression ‘street trading’ includes the hawking of
newspapers, matches, flowers, and other articles, playing,
singing, or performing for profit, shoe-blacking, and any
other like occupation carried on in streets or public places."
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: Germany:
Child Labor Legislation and its operation.
The Reichstag, in 1903, passed a new law for the protection of
children, concerning the operation of which a well known
English student of social conditions in Germany wrote as
follows in 1908:
"Several significant facts may be noted in relation to the
protection of childhood in Germany. The legal age of admission
to full employment in factories and workshops is fourteen
years, though on the production of efficiency certificates
children may be employed for not more than six hours daily at
the age of thirteen, yet of the 5,607,657 industrial workers
subject to inspection in 1905 only 10,245, or under 0.2 per
cent., were below fourteen years, and in some States there
were none. To show the progress which has been made in this
respect it may be stated that in 1875 10 per cent. (88,000 out
of a total of 880,500) of the factory workers were between
twelve and fourteen years of age. … At the same time there is
reason to believe that a serious exhaustion of juvenile
strength takes place in the unregulated home industries of
Germany. Further, from the age of six the child of the people
attends the primary school for seven or eight years, and in
many cases he is required to attend a continuation school
several years longer. In most of the large towns the scholar
from first to last receives free systematic medical care at
the hands of the school doctors. It begins with a thorough
examination on admission, and the health record thus opened is
continued throughout the whole period of school life, so that
the child is under constant medical supervision until it
reaches the working age. Many towns have gone further, and
have established dental surgeries, and attached eye and ear
specialists to the primary schools."
_W. H. Dawson,
The Evolution of Modern Germany,
page 327 (Unwin, London; Scribner’s, New York)_.
{88}
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: United States:
Child Labor Laws of the several States in 1908,
and as amended since.
The requirements of an effective child labor law are set forth
in Pamphlet No. 60 of the National Child Labor Committee as
resting "primarily upon certain definite prohibitions, among
which are the following:
Labor is prohibited (1) for all children under the age of
fourteen years;
labor is prohibited (2) for all children under sixteen years
of age who do not measure sixty inches and weigh eighty pounds;
labor is prohibited (3) for all children under sixteen years
of age who cannot read fluently and write legibly simple
sentences in the English language;
labor is prohibited (4) for all children under the age of
sixteen years, between the hours of 7 p. m. and 7 a. m. or
longer than eight hours in any twenty-four hours, or longer
than forty-eight hours in any week;
labor is prohibited (5) for all children under the age of
sixteen years in occupations dangerous to life, limb, health
or morals."
Further prescriptions of the Committee relate to the
regulations and agencies of authority requisite to an
effective enforcement of the Law.
In Bulletin Number 62 of the United States Bureau of Labor
published in January, 1906, there is published a compilation
of the laws relating to child labor in each State of the
Union, as amended and in force at the close of the year 1905.
An examination of them shows that the proposed standard had
not then been measured up to in any State, or approached even
nearly by more than a few. In not one had the law prescribed a
test by weight or measure of the bodily development of a child
that should mark Nature’s consent to his employment in any
kind of work.
Thirteen States, namely, California, Connecticut, Delaware,
Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin,
prohibited in general terms the employment of children under
fourteen years in mechanical, manufacturing or mercantile
establishments, or to that apparent effect. New York did the
same, with the proviso that children over twelve might have
employment during school vacation times. Rhode Island,
likewise, excepted the vacation time for children under
fourteen. The State of Washington allowed certain judges to
make exemptions from a similar prohibition, for the needed
support of helpless parents. Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire,
North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and
Wisconsin fixed the age under which no child may be employed
in wage-earning labor at twelve. Louisiana appointed it at
twelve for a boy and fourteen for a girl. Colorado placed it
at twelve for labor in mines only. Florida raised it to
fifteen, but only as prohibitory without consent of "those
having legal control" of the child. Alabama and Nebraska had
it lowered to ten years. South Carolina had kept it at ten
until 1903, at eleven until 1904, and at twelve until May,
1905. In the Massachusetts law no absolute prohibition of
child labor within any age line appeared.
Educational requirements, conditioning the employment of
children, were in most of the State laws, as they stood at the
end of 1905, and many of them satisfied the third rule
propounded by the National Child Labor Committee, as given
above.
In the next three years after the Bureau of Labor’s
compilation of child labor laws, great reforms in them were
brought about, as shown by comparison with the "Handbook 1908"
of "Child Labor Legislation" compiled by Josephine Goldmark
for the National Consumers’ League, and published originally
as a Supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, May, 1908. Some statements from
this are given below:
"The age below which child labor is prohibited varies from
sixteen to ten years. The number of employments prohibited
also varies greatly—from all employment during school hours to
mine work only. … Eleven states prohibit work to the sixteenth
birthday in either mines or specific occupations injurious to
health, or both. These are, for mines, New York, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania (inside anthracite mines), Texas; for specific
occupations, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin;
for both, Illinois and Montana."
The fifteen year age limit is prescribed in only one State,
South Dakota, which forbids it in mines, factories, hotels,
laundries, theatres, bowling alleys, elevators, messenger
service, or places where liquors are sold.
The age limit of fourteen years is prescribed differently in
different States. With various qualifications, employment
below that age in factories, stores, offices, laundries,
hotels, theatres, bowling alleys, is prohibited in California,
Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri,
Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
In factories or stores it is forbidden in Connecticut,
Massachusetts, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and
Washington.
In factories it is not permitted in Arkansas, Colorado,
Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey,
Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin.
In messenger service it is made unlawful in California, Idaho,
Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska,
New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington,
Wisconsin.
Children under this age are excluded from mines in Arkansas,
Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota,
Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,
Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
In all the prohibitions above cited many and various
exceptions are allowed in the laws of different States—as for
school-vacation periods, for children of widows and disabled
fathers, etc. In like manner, the following State laws which,
on general principles, forbid all employment of children under
fourteen years during school hours, provide for numerous and
different exceptional circumstances: California, Colorado,
Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota,
Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
{89}
The thirteen year age limit is fixed only in North Carolina,
which excepts apprentices.
The twelve year limit is applied (with exceptions for the
vacation months) to factories or stores in California, to most
descriptions of regular employment in Maryland, and to
factories in West Virginia. It is applied to factories, with
varied exceptions, in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, and
Texas. It applies to factories, quarries, railroads, and
messenger service in Vermont, and to factories, stores, and
mines in Virginia. To mines distinctly it applies in Alabama,
Florida, Maryland (if the twelve-year child is not wholly
illiterate), North Carolina, North Dakota (in school hours),
Pennsylvania (in bituminous mines only), South Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia (vacation excepted).
The ten year old limit for labor to be lawful was only in
Georgia factories, with exceptions for the babes of widows and
disabled fathers.
As to hours of labor, "six states limit employment to 9 hours
in one day and 54 in one week:—California, Delaware, Florida,
Idaho, Missouri, and New York (applying to children under 16
in stores and as messengers).
"Twenty-four states restrict work to 10 hours in one day and
either 55, 58 or 60 hours in one week.
"Five states, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania
and Tennessee allow more than 10 hours work in one day," in
the hours per week they permit.
"Those states which fail to restrict the hours of labor
allowed in one _week_ as well as in one _day_ invite
the possibility of seven days’ labor. In Washington, for
example, women and girls may not only work ten hours at night,
they may do this every night, including Sunday.
"Work at night is effectively restricted to the 16th birthday
in 18 states. Twelve states set an early closing hour for
children under 16 years, New York fixing 5 p. m.; Michigan,
Ohio, Oregon and Wisconsin 6 p. m., and Alabama, Idaho,
Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri and New Jersey (in
stores) fixing 7 p. m. Of these, the Ohio law is the most
comprehensive, since it includes girls to the 18th birthday."
"Children have no positive immunity from night work unless the
hours are explicitly stated between which it is unlawful to
employ them. … The District of Columbia, 4 territories and 20
states fail to prohibit work at night after a definite closing
hour. The sinister feature of this list is the presence of
Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
New Hampshire, Tennessee and West Virginia, all of them
important manufacturing states having industries in which
children are employed."
Since the compilation of the above several states have made
important changes in or additions to their child labor laws,
as follows:
In Kentucky the age limit is raised to 14 years during school
terms, children between 14 and 16 not to be employed without
certificate from school authorities. The hours of labor are
limited to ten hours a day and sixty hours a week, and night
work is prohibited for children under 16 years.
In Louisiana a fourteen-year age limit is established, with a
9 hour working day, and night work is prohibited for boys
under 16 and girls under 18 years.
Mississippi has established a twelve-year limit, applicants
under sixteen being required to furnish a certificate of age
and educational advantages, and one from county health officer
showing physical condition. The time limit is ten hours daily,
58 hours a week.
"New Jersey enacted a compulsory education law, requiring
school attendance of all children between the ages of seven
and seventeen, except that children of fifteen who have
completed the grammar grades and are regularly employed may be
excused. This places the age limit for employment during the
school period at fifteen years.
"In New York a law was passed transferring the enforcement of
the mercantile child labor law from local boards of health in
cities of the first class to the State Labor Department, and
providing for the creation of a bureau of mercantile
inspection. This law became effective October 1st, 1908." It
made important changes, affecting dangerous employments, which
became effective October 1st, 1909.
"In Ohio an important measure was passed limiting the hours
for boys under sixteen and girls under eighteen to eight per
day and forty-eight per week."
_National Child Labor Committee
(General Secretary’s Annual Report)._
An act to regulate the employment of child labor in the
District of Columbia was passed by Congress on May 28, 1908.
This law prescribes an age limit of fourteen years, and
prohibits employment during school hours. Exceptions may be
made for children in the service of the Senate, or for those
whose labor is necessary for the support of a disabled or
widowed parent. Street trades are forbidden to boys under ten
and girls under sixteen years of age. The time limit for
children under sixteen is eight hours a day and forty-eight
hours a week.
The report of the National Child Labor Committee, for the year
ending September 30, 1909, gives the following additional
changes: In South Carolina a system of factory inspection was
adopted. The hours of labor, however, were changed from 10 to
11 hours a day. In Maine an educational test was adopted, and
the hours reduced from 60 to 58 per week. Rhode Island reduced
the hours for women and children from 60 to 56 per week.
Pennsylvania enacted a law requiring adequate proof of age of
children seeking employment, and requiring school certificate.
Hours of labor have been reduced in the following States:
Michigan to 54 hours a week for all women and for males under
18; Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota to 8 hour day and 48 hour
week; Delaware to 9 hour day and 54 hour week; Maine to 10
hour day and 58 hour week for boys under 16, and girls under
18; Rhode Island to 56 hour week for minors under 16 and all
women.
Night work has been prohibited in the following additional
States: Delaware, Kansas, North Dakota, Michigan, Oklahoma,
California.
Compulsory education laws have been passed in Arkansas and
Tennessee, and revised and improved in New Jersey, New York,
and Missouri.
See, also.
LABOR PROTECTION: HOURS OF LABOR.
----------CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: End--------
{90}
CHILDREN, Public Playgrounds for.
See (in this Volume)
PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT.
CHILDS, RICHARD S.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: UNITED STATES.
----------CHILE: Start--------
CHILE: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation in Second and Third International Conferences
of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
CHILE: A. D. 1902.
Noble Peace Agreements between Chile and the Argentine
Republic.
Treaty for Arbitration of all Disputes.
Limitation of Armaments.
See (in this Volume)
War, The Revolt against: A. D. 1902.
CHILE: A. D. 1903.
Sale of war vessels to Great Britain.
Pursuant to her Convention with Argentina, for the reduction
of armaments, Chile, in this year, sold two newly built war
vessels to Great Britain.
CHILE: A. D. 1906.
Installation of President Montt.
His prospective difficulties.
Don Pedro Montt, elected President of Chile in June, 1906,
was installed in office on the 10th of September following—the
anniversary of Chilean independence. United States Minister
Hicks, reporting the ceremony to his Government, added the
following remarks on the political situation:
"The new President takes office while enjoying great personal
popularity. He is the son of Don Manuel Montt, who was
President of Chile from 1851 to 1862. His reputation is that
of a calm, well-balanced man, of unimpeachable integrity,
strong and self-reliant, but conciliatory and far-seeing. He
begins his career with many difficulties on his hands. One
question left over from the last administration—that of the
rectorship of the university—is already causing considerable
trouble. Under the law the President appoints the rector from
three persons named by the doctors of the university itself.
Señor Letelier has been so named, but as he is said to be a
liberal and even a freethinker, the church party and the
conservatives generally are fighting him. The new President
selected a cabinet last week entirely different from the one
now in office, but owing to the rectorship question and some
other things it failed and a new one had to be appointed
hurriedly.
"Among other difficulties to be met by the new President is
the opposition of the Senate. It is understood that there is a
majority in that body against him, and it is liable to operate
unfavorably to him. Still his friends have full confidence that
he will succeed in quieting opposition and will retain the
unlimited confidence of the people.
"Under the Chilean constitution much of the power delegated to
the President under the American Constitution is retained by
Congress. That body really dictates to the President the
appointment or removal of his cabinet and thus his functions
are quite different from those of the President of the United
States."
CHILE: A. D. 1906.
Destructive earthquake.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES: CHILE.
CHILE: A. D. 1907.
Diplomatic relations with Peru reestablished.
Diplomatic relations with Peru were reestablished in 1907; but
the old sore question between the two countries, concerning
the interpretation of the peace treaty of Ancón (1884),
relative to the provinces of Tacna and Arica, which Chile took
from Peru in the preceding war, remains open.
See (in Volume VI.)
CHILE.
CHILE: A. D. 1909.
Contract given for the Arica-La Paz Railway.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CHILE-BOLIVIA.
CHILE: A. D. 1909.
Arbitration of the Alsop Claim of the United States.
"Many years ago diplomatic intervention became necessary to
the protection of the interests in the American claim of Alsop
and Company against the government of Chili. The government of
Chili had frequently admitted obligation in the case, and had
promised this government to settle it. There had been two
abortive attempts to do so through arbitral commissions, which
failed through lack of jurisdiction. Now, happily, as the
result of the recent diplomatic negotiations, the governments
of the United States and Chili, actuated by the sincere desire
to free from any strain those cordial and friendly relations
upon which both set such store, have agreed by a protocol to
submit the controversy to definitive settlement by his
Britannic Majesty, Edward VII."
_Message to Congress of President Taft,
December, 1909._
The claim referred to is that of "the Alsop Company of New
York and Connecticut which advanced large sums of money to the
Bolivian government in exchange for the right to valuable
guano deposits in that country and other concessions. The
government contracted further to return a part of the loan
from the receipts of customs at the port of Arica. Before her
contract could be fulfilled Bolivia lost Arica and the
adjoining districts to Chili in war. In 1885, following
representations by the American State Department, Chili agreed
to assume the obligations of Bolivia to the Alsop Company. She
has never, however, made good her promise, and the matter has
been the subject of diplomatic negotiations ever since. The
claim now amounts to more than $1,500,000."
CHILE: A. D. 1909.
Building of the Transandine Railway Tunnel.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: ARGENTINA-CHILE.
CHILE: A. D. 1909 (October).
Naval plans.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL: CHILEAN.
----------CHILE: End--------
----------CHINA: Start--------
CHINA: A. D. 1887-1907.
Increase of Christian Mission Schools.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA.
CHINA: A. D. 1900-1905.
Sudden and rapid upspringing of newspapers.
"Without giving actual statistics, it may be mentioned that
Peking, which had no newspaper up to the time of the Boxer
rising—except a short-lived weekly started by the Peking
Reform Club and suppressed by the Empress Dowager—has now
three daily newspapers and two fortnightly ones, some of these
being partly illustrated. Tientsin has at least three dailies,
one of these, the _‘Ta-kung Pao’_ ('The Impartial’),
having the very respectable circulation of twenty thousand.
The official organ which calls itself the ‘Times’ (the
_‘Shih Pao’_), although not so widely circulated, is well
written under European auspices and has considerable
influence.
{91}
In Shanghai there are now sixteen daily papers (price, eight
to ten _cash_ each), some of which have circulations of
as much as ten thousand, and besides these there are many
journals published there. Further south (at Foochow, Soochow,
and Canton), there are in all some six or seven daily papers,
and at Hong-Kong five, while Kiaochow has one, which is
supported by the local German government. In addition to
these, several papers are now published in the interior, but
the majority, for various reasons, flourish in the treaty
ports."
_A. R. Colquhoun
The Chinese Press of To-day
(North American Review, January, 1906)._
CHINA: A. D. 1900-1906.
Progressive tariff and internal taxation measures to check
the consumption of opium.
See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1902.
The Russian grip on Manchuria.
Coercive negotiations with China.
Protests from other Powers.
The Manchurian Treaty of 1902 and its impotence.
Early in December, 1901, the American Minister to China, Mr.
Conger, reported to Secretary Hay, at Washington, an impending
treaty which Russia seemed likely to force on the Chinese
Government, which would practically secure to that aggressive
Power, through a prolonged agreement of China with the
Russo-Chinese Bank, exclusive railway and mining concessions
in Manchuria, and which would protract the Russian evacuation
of that country through three years. England and Japan were
using all their influence at Peking to prevent the signing of
the treaty, and Mr. Hay entered a vigorous protest on the part
of the Government of the United States, "animated now, as
heretofore, by the sincere desire to insure to the whole world
full and fair intercourse with China on equal footing." The
pressure from Russia on China was so potent, however, that Mr.
Conger, on the 29th of January, 1902, reported to Mr. Hay that
Prince Ch’ing, who acted with authority from his Government in
the negotiation with Russia, had informed him "that the latter
has done the best he could and has held out as long as
possible, but that Russian possession of Manchuria has become
intolerable, and that China must at once sign the convention
or lose everything; that he has therefore agreed to sign the
convention [modified in some particulars] and will also sign
the separate agreement with the Russo-Chinese Bank, which
practically gives exclusive privileges of industrial
development in Manchuria." Nevertheless the consummation of
the Russian project of coercive diplomacy was delayed until
the 8th of April, and the terms of the treaty then signed were
considerably moderated from the original design. Its
provisions of interest to others than the contracting parties
were as follows:
"ARTICLE I.
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, desiring to give a
fresh proof of his love of peace and his sentiments of
friendship for His Majesty the Emperor of China,
notwithstanding the fact that the first attacks upon the
peaceable Russian population were made from various points of
Manchuria, which is situated on the frontier, consents to the
reestablishment of the authority of the Chinese Government in
the aforesaid province, which remains an integral part of the
Empire of China, and restores to the Chinese Government the
right to exercise governmental and administrative powers there
as before its occupation by the Russian troops.
"ARTICLE II.
In resuming possession of governmental and administrative
powers in Manchuria, the Chinese Government confirms, as well
in regard to the terms as to all the other articles, the
engagement strictly to observe the stipulations of the
contract concluded with the Russo-Chinese Bank on the 27th of
August, 1896, and assumes, according to article 5 of said
contract, the obligation to protect the railroad and its
personnel by every means, and also pledges itself to guarantee
the security in Manchuria, of all Russian subjects in general
who reside there and the enterprises established by them. The
Russian Government, in view of the assumption of this
obligation by the Emperor of China, consents on its part, in
case there shall be no agitations of any sort, and if the
action of the other powers shall offer no obstacle thereto,
gradually to withdraw all its troops from Manchuria so as
(_a_) To withdraw, in the course of six months from the
signing of the convention, the Russian troops from the
southwest portion of the province of Moukden, as far as the
Liao-he River, and again to place China in control of the
railways;
(_b_) To withdraw, in the course of the six months
following, the Imperial Russian troops from the remaining
portion of the province of Moukden and the province of Kirin;
and
(c) To withdraw, in the course of the six months following,
the remainder of the Imperial Russian troops now in the
province of Hei-lung Kiang.
"ARTICLE. III.
In view of the necessity of obviating in future a repetition
of the disturbances of 1900, in which the Chinese troops
quartered in the provinces adjacent to Russia took part, the
Russian Government and the Chinese Government agree to order
the Russian military authorities and the dzian-dziuns, to come
to an understanding for the purpose of regulating the number
and determining the places of cantonment of the Chinese troops
in Manchuria until the Russian troops shall have been
withdrawn therefrom. The Chinese Government further pledges
itself not to organize any other troops above the number thus
agreed upon by the Russian military authorities and the
dzian-dziuns which shall be sufficient to exterminate the
brigands and to pacify the country. After the complete
evacuation of the country by the Russian troops, the Chinese
Government shall have the right to make an examination of the
number of troops in Manchuria which are subject to increase or
diminution, giving timely notice of such examination to the
Imperial Government, for the maintenance of troops in the
aforesaid province in superfluous numbers would manifestly
lead to the increase of the Russian military forces in the
adjacent districts, and would thus occasion an increase of
military expenses, to the great disadvantage of both
countries. For police service and the maintenance of internal
order in this region outside of the territory ceded to the
Chinese Eastern Railway Company, there shall be formed, near
the local dzian-dziun governors, a police force, both on foot
and mounted, composed exclusively of subjects of the Emperor
of China
"ARTICLE IV.
The Russian Government consents to restore to their owners the
railway lines of Shan-hai-kwan—Yin-kow—Simminting, which have
been occupied and protected by the Russian troops since the
end of the month of September, 1900. In consideration of this
the Government of the Emperor of China pledges itself:
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"1. That in case it shall become necessary to insure the
security of the aforesaid railway lines it will itself assume
that obligation, and will not request any other power to
undertake or participate in the defense, construction, or
exploitation of these lines, and will not permit foreign
powers to occupy the territory restored by Russia.
"2. That the above-mentioned railway lines shall be completed
and exploited on the precise bases of the agreement made
between Russia and England April 16, 1899, and on those of the
contract concluded September 28, 1898, with a private company,
relative to a loan for the construction of the aforesaid
lines, and, moreover, in observance of the obligations assumed
by the company, especially: Not to take possession of the
Shan-hai-kwan—Yin-kow—Simminting line or to dispose of it in
any manner whatever.
"3. That if a continuation of the railway lines in the south
of Manchuria, or the construction of branch lines connecting
with them, and the construction of a bridge at Yin Kow or at
the transfer of the terminus of the Shan-hai-kwan Railroad,
which is situated there, shall hereafter be undertaken, it
shall be done after a previous understanding between the
Government of Russia and that of China."
_Papers relating to the Foreign Relations
of the United States, 1902, pages 271-281._
During the next two years Russia was accused from all sides of
infidelity to the engagements of this treaty, and her conduct,
which seemed especially menacing to Japan, gave rise to the
Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1902.
Edicts for educational reform.
Modernizing examinations for literary and military degrees.
Establishing universities, colleges, and schools.
Sending students abroad.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1901-1902.
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1904.
Persistent occupation of Manchuria by the Russians.
Remonstrances of the Japanese.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
Settlement of the indemnity to be paid to fourteen Powers on
account of the Boxer Rising.
Remission of part of it by the United States.
In April, 1901, when the record of events connected with the
Boxer rising against foreigners in China was closed in Volume
VI. of this work, the Chinese government had promised
satisfaction and indemnity to the fourteen Powers whose
subjects had suffered from the barbarous attack and whose
forces had overcome it, and the measure of indemnity to be
paid was then being discussed. The discussion and the
reckonings involved were prolonged till September. The final
protocol was signed September 7, but it was not until the 30th
of that month that the formulated claims of the Powers
concerned were accepted by China, and the responsibility of
payment assumed by an imperial decree. The total was
450,000,000 taels, equivalent to $334,000,000, divided between
Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, and the United States. The sum was not reckoned solely
for the covering of losses and expenses, consequent on the
Boxer outrages, but was intended to be, in some degree, a
penalty imposed on the Chinese nation; and some of the
claimant nations were said to be more exacting on this score
than others were.
The amount for which the United States stipulated was
$24,440,000, and the American government received an indemnity
bond for that sum. But when the expenses of the American
relief expedition had been accurately ascertained, and all
losses and destruction of property belonging to American
claimants had been settled, it was found that they would be
largely overpaid. It was possible, according to common
practice in international dealings, to regard the excess as
justly punitive; but a different view was dictated by the wish
to show friendliness to China, and a return of the overpayment
was proposed. Recommended by President Roosevelt, the
necessary sanction was given by Congress, and on the 11th of
July, 1908, the American Minister to China addressed the
following communication to the Prince of Ch’ing, President of
the Wai-Wu-Pu, or Board of Foreign Affairs, at Peking:
"_Your Highness:_
"It is with great satisfaction that I have the honor to inform
your Highness, under direction of the Secretary of State of
the United States, that a bill has passed the Congress of the
United States authorizing the President to modify the
indemnity bond given the United States by China under the
provisions of Article VI. of the final protocol of September
7, 1901, from twenty-four million, four hundred and forty
thousand dollars ($24,440,000), United States gold currency,
to thirteen million, six hundred and fifty-five thousand, four
hundred and ninety-two dollars and twenty-nine cents
($13,655,492.29), with interest at four per cent (4%) per
annum. Of this amount two million dollars ($2,000,000) are
held pending the result of hearings on private claims
presented to the Court of Claims of the United States within
one year. Any balance remaining after such adjudication is
also to be returned to the Chinese Government, in such manner
as the Secretary of State shall decide.
"The President is further authorized under the Bill to remit
to China the remainder of the indemnity as an act of
friendship, such payments and remissions to be made at such
times and in such a manner as he may deem just.
"I am also directed by the Secretary of State to request the
Imperial Government kindly to favor him with its views as to
the time and manner of the remissions.
"Trusting that your Imperial Highness will favor me with an
early reply to communicate to my Government, I avail myself of
this occasion to renew to your Highness the assurance of my
highest consideration
—W. W. ROCKHILL."
In his reply, after reciting the statements conveyed to him by
Mr. Rockhill, the Prince wrote (as translated) the following:
"On reading this despatch I was profoundly impressed with the
justice and great friendliness of the American government, and
wish to express our sincerest thanks.
"Concerning the time and manner of the return of the amounts
to be remitted to China, the Imperial Government has no wishes
to express in the matter. It relies implicitly on the friendly
intentions of the United States Government, and is convinced
that it will adopt such measures as are best calculated to
attain the end it has in view.
{93}
"The Imperial Government, wishing to give expression to the
high value it places on the friendship of the United States,
finds in its present action a favorable opportunity for doing
so. Mindful of the desire recently expressed by the President
of the United States to promote the coming of Chinese students
to the United States to take courses in the schools and higher
educational institutions of the country, and convinced by the
happy results of past experience of the great value to China
of education in American schools, the Imperial Government has
the honor to state that it is its intention to send henceforth
yearly to the United States a considerable number of students
there to receive their education. The Board of Foreign Affairs
will confer with the American Minister in Peking concerning
the elaboration of plans for the carrying out of the intention
of the Imperial Government.
"A necessary despatch.
"SEAL OF THE WAI-WU-PU."
Simultaneously with the note from Prince Ch’ing, the Wai-Wu-Pu
as a body addressed the following to Mr. Rockhill:
"_To his Excellency W. W. Rockhill,
American Minister, Peking_:
"Referring to the despatch just sent to your Excellency
regarding sending students to America, it has now been
determined that from the year when the return of the indemnity
begins, one hundred students shall be sent to America every
year for four years, so that four hundred students may be in
America by the fourth year. From the fifth year and throughout
the period of the indemnity payments a minimum of fifty
students will be sent each year.
"As the number of students will be very great, there will be
difficulty in making suitable arrangements for them.
Therefore, in the matter of choosing them, as well as in the
matters of providing suitable homes for them in America and
selecting the schools which they are to enter, we hope to have
your advice and assistance. The details of our scheme will
have to be elaborated later, but we take this occasion to
state the general features of our plan, and ask you to inform
the American Government of it. We sincerely hope that the
American Government will render us assistance in the matter.
"Wishing you all prosperity,
(Signed)
PRINCE OF CH’ING, YUAN-SHIH-K’AI,
NA-TUNG LIEN-FANG
LIANG-TUN-YEN."
The remittance of somewhat more than $10,000,000 of the
indemnity did not involve a repayment of that sum of money to
the Chinese government, for the reason that payments on the
original indemnity bond were to be in annual instalments,
running until 1940, certain revenues being pledged to secure
them. The remittance is effected, accordingly, by a
readjustment of those payments hereafter.
Writing in _The Outlook_ of this transaction, and of the
impression it has made in China, Mr. George Marvin, who has
been for some time in official connection with the Chinese
Government, says:
"In pledging itself to the American educational mission the
Chinese Government has given the fullest evidence of its
appreciation. According to estimates made in Peking last
summer, it was calculated that by and after the fourth year of
the proposed educational foundation the investment necessary
to finance the Chinese students in America would amount to
$500,000 annually, a sum nearly equivalent to the entire
yearly revenue remitted. Already, and quite apart from the
scheme proposed in the note of the Wai-Wu-Pu, there are
maintained in the United States by Imperial and Provincial
funds one hundred and fifty-five Chinese students, picked boys
and young men, sons of officials and prominent and wealthy
merchants, chosen often by competitive examinations. The
students now to be sent annually by the Imperial Government
will be still more carefully selected. These are the men
destined for positions of responsibility and influence in that
‘Awakening China’ of which we hear so much."
_G. Marvin, in _The Outlook_, November 14, 1908._
A Special Ambassador from China, bearing a letter of thanks
from the Emperor, presented it to the President on the 2d of
December, 1908.
CHINA: A. D. 1902.
Return to Peking of the Emperor, Empress-Dowager, and Court.
Receptions to foreign representatives.
Withdrawals of foreign troops.
Recurrence of Boxer outbreaks.
The Emperor, Empress Dowager, and their suite reentered Peking
on the 7th of January, 1902. On the 22d the foreign
representatives were admitted to audience with the Emperor; on
the 28th the Emperor and Empress-Dowager, together, gave a
reception to the diplomatic body, the Empress-Dowager being
throned on a higher seat than the Emperor; on the 1st of
February the Empress-Dowager entertained the ladies of the
foreign legations at a banquet, where presents of jewelry were
made to all the guests. Sorrow for the misdoings from which
the foreigners in China had suffered was expressed on all
these occasions, and there seemed to be an earnest desire to
make amends for them.
Foreign troops were withdrawn from Tien-tsin on the 15th of
August, 1902, and the city delivered to the Chinese Viceroy.
Many improvements in streets, bridges, and public grounds had
been made by the provisional government which the Allies
instituted in 1900. Shanghai was evacuated by the allied
forces at the end of the year 1902.
Some recurrence of Boxer movements and insurrections occurred
in different parts of the Empire during 1902. Several
missionaries and a number of native converts were murdered,
chapels were burned, and other outrages committed; but in
general there was a restoration of order in the country, and
considerable building of railways and forwarding of other
enterprises went on.
CHINA: A. D. 1902.
Russo-Chinese Treaty concerning Tibet.
See (in this Volume)
TIBET: A. D. 1902.
CHINA: A. D. 1902 (January).
Agreement respecting China between Great Britain and Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1902.
CHINA: A. D. 1902 (February).
Wei-hai-wei found to be strategically worthless by the
British Government.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (FEBRUARY).
CHINA: A. D. 1902-1904.
The British opening of Tibet by force.
See TIBET: A. D. 1902.
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CHINA: A. D. 1903 (MAY-OCTOBER).
Treaty with the United States.
Opening of two ports in Manchuria.
Rights and privileges enlarged.
"In the protocol of September 7, 1901, China had agreed to
extend the scope of her commercial treaties with the powers.
_See, (in this Volume)
above, A. D. 1901-1908._
When the negotiation of a new treaty was begun by
Consul-General Goodnow at Shanghai, the United States demanded
that at least two new ports in Manchuria be opened to foreign
trade and residence. The Chinese commissioners declined to
discuss this subject, on the alleged ground that they had no
instructions to do so. It was evident that there was secret
opposition somewhere, and on May 7, 1903, Mr. Conger reported
that it came from the Russian charge d'affaires. Later he
secured a written acknowledgment from the Chinese government
that such was the case. … Mr. Hay then appealed with the
utmost directness to the Russian government. … On July 14 a
definite answer was at length received from Russia, in which
she declared that it had never entered into her views to
oppose the opening of certain cities in Manchuria to foreign
commerce, but that this declaration did not apply to Harbin,
one of the cities selected by the United States, which was
situated within the railway zone, and therefore was not under
the complete jurisdiction of China. A copy of this note was
shown to the Chinese government; which finally agreed to
insert in the treaty on October 8 (the date on which Russia
had agreed to completely withdraw from Manchuria) a provision
for the opening of two ports. The United States agreed to this
arrangement, and on October 8 the treaty was signed, and
Mukden and Antung named as the open ports."
_John H. Latané,
America as a World Power,
chapter 6 (Harper & Bros., New York, 1907)._
The further scope of the treaty was announced by President
Roosevelt in his Message to Congress, December 7, 1903, as
follows: "It provides not only for the ordinary rights and
privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but also for
an important extension of our commerce by increased facility
of access to Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the
removal of some of the obstacles which have embarrassed it in
the past. The Chinese Government engages, on fair and
equitable conditions, which will probably be accepted by the
principal commercial nations, to abandon the levy of ‘liken’
and other transit dues throughout the Empire, and to introduce
other desirable administrative reforms. Larger facilities are
to be given to our citizens who desire to carry on mining
enterprises in China. We have secured for our missionaries a
valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent and
lease in perpetuity such property as their religious societies
may need in all parts of the Empire."
CHINA: A. D. 1904.
Railways and Chinese travel on them.
Unused British Concessions.
"It may not have passed out of the public mind that in
February, 1899, Mr. Balfour came down to the House of Commons
and paraded before it and the country the magnificent triumph
England had won in China in respect of Railway Concessions.
See, in Volume VI.,
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER.).
They totalled up to 2,800 miles! The House cheered, the
country indulged in a fit of self-complacency, and the critic
who asked questions was an ignoramus or a nuisance. Well, five
years have gone by, and not one mile of those railways is in
existence except the Chinese Northern State Railway, which has
passed out of our hands. Of the rest the two great trunk
lines, one from Hankow to Canton, and the other in Yunnan,
have been abandoned, while among those of shorter length the
only one that still remains in active force is the subject of
this paper. …
"In more than one recently published consular dispatch
attention has been drawn to the fact that the Chinese,
backward or hesitating in the adoption of every other European
or Western innovation, have shown no reluctance to avail
themselves of improved means of locomotion. The Northern
Railway is used by several million passengers every year; the
sections already open of the German railway in Shantung and of
the Belgian in Shansi can complain of no lack of traffic. The
fears of an earlier period as to what the Chinese would do
with regard to railways have been dissipated by experience."
_D. C. Boulger,
The Shanghai-Nanking Railway
(Contemporary Review, June, 1904)._
CHINA: A. D. 1904.
The Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-JULY) and after.
CHINA: A. D. 1904-1909.
The Hankau Sze-chuen Railway Loan.
The question of American participation.
In 1904 the American Minister at Peking concluded an agreement
with the Chinese Government to the effect that, when loans for
the construction of a projected railway into the western
province of Sze-chuen, from Hankau, should be negotiated,
Americans should have an opportunity to subscribe to it.
Nearly five years passed before arrangements for the loan were
made, and then, in the spring of 1909, it was found that terms
had been concluded with a group of British, German, and French
bankers for the whole sum sought, of $27,500,000, while
American capitalists had not been given the promised
opportunity. On behalf of the latter the Government of the
United States intervened, claiming fulfilment of the agreement
of 1904. The matter was regarded as being both politically and
financially important. "A precedent is what we want to
establish," said Mr. Crane, the newly appointed Minister to
China, in an interview on the subject at New York. "The task
of this Government to maintain its position with the European
Powers in the East will be less difficult. We are looking
twenty years ahead." As the result of communications in July
from Washington to Peking, in which President Taft took part
personally, the loan arrangement was readjusted, and American
capitalists became participant in it to the extent of
one-fourth.
According to a despatch from Peking, August 17, the matter was
settled definitely that day, on the following terms: "The loan
to be increased from $27,500,000 to $30,000,000, and of this
latter amount American bankers to get one-quarter, the other
three-quarters going to British, French, and German interests.
Americans are to have equal opportunity with the other nations
to supply material for both the Sze-chuen and the Canton lines
and the branches; they will appoint subordinate engineers, and
they will have also one-half of all future loans of the
Sze-chuen Railroad and its branches with the corresponding
advantages."
{95}
Subsequently, however, some difficulty in the readjustment of
business details in the matter arose, which delayed the final
settlement. The motives of the American Government in claiming
a participation in the enterprise were stated as follows by
President Taft in his Message to Congress, December 6, 1909:
"By the treaty of 1903 China has undertaken the abolition of
likin with a moderate and proportionate raising of the customs
tariff along with currency reform. These reforms being of
manifest advantage to foreign commerce as well as to the
interests of China, this government is endeavoring to
facilitate these measures with the needful acquiescence of the
treaty Powers. When it appeared that Chinese likin revenues
were to be hypothecated to foreign bankers in connection with
a great railway project, it was obvious that the governments
whose nationals held this loan would have a certain direct
interest in the question of the carrying out by China of the
reforms in question. Because this railroad loan represented a
practical and real application of the open-door policy through
coöperation with China by interested Powers, as well as
because of its relations to the reforms referred to above, the
Administration deemed American participation to be of great
national interest. Happily, when it was as a matter of broad
policy urgent that this opportunity should not be lost, the
indispensable instrumentality presented itself when a group of
American bankers, of international reputation and great
resources, agreed at once to share in the loan upon precisely
such terms as this government should approve. The chief of
those terms was that American railway material should be upon
an exact equality with that of the other nationals joining in
the loan in the placing of orders for this whole railroad
system. After months of negotiation the equal participation of
Americans seems at last assured. It is gratifying that
Americans will thus take their share in this extension of
these great highways of trade, and to believe that such
activities will give a real impetus to our commerce, and will
prove a practical corollary to our historic policy in the Far
East."
CHINA: A. D. 1905 (August).
New agreement respecting China between Great Britain and Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (AUGUST).
CHINA: A. D. 1905 (December).
Treaty with Japan relative to Manchuria.
By a treaty with Japan, concluded December, 1905, China
consented to lease to Japan the Kwangtung peninsula, at the
southern extremity of which are Port Arthur and Dalny,
formerly held by Russia under lease from China, and concede to
Japan the control of the railway on the peninsula northward as
far as Changchin. China also conceded to Japan the right to
build a railway from Antung on the Yalu River to Mukden, the
ancient capital of Manchuria, provided, however, that at the
end of a certain period the road may be purchased by China.
More important is the fact that China agreed in the treaty to
open to the world’s commerce and trade sixteen principal ports
and cities in Manchuria, including Harbin, or Kharbin, the
modern Russian capital of the province and its most important
railway center.
CHINA: A. D. 1905-1908.
The stir of new ideas.
Imperial Commission to study Representative
Systems of Government.
Signs of fruit from it.
Reformative movements.
The Constitutional Programme set forth in August, 1908.
Nine years of approach to a Promised Constitution.
A significant token of the dawning in China of a changed state
of mind respecting the western world of Europe and America,
and its very different development of scientific knowledge and
of social institutions, was afforded in the fall of 1905, when
an imperial commission, headed by Prince Tsai-Tse, was sent
abroad to study representative systems of government. The
Commission returned in the following July, and in August a
committee of high dignitaries, with Prince Ch’ing for its
chairman, was appointed to consider the report it had
submitted on administrative reforms. The outcome, soon
afterwards, was an imperial edict which recognized a "lack of
confidence between the highest and the lowest, between the
throne and ministers and the masses," and went so far as to
say that "foreign countries become wealthy and powerful by
granting a constitution to the masses and allowing suffrage to
all." While intimating that China must look forward to a
similar admission of the masses to some voice in the
government, the edict set forth the prior need of many
reforms, in the official system, in the laws, in education, in
the finances, and in the army and police. To begin the
undertaking of such reforms, Prince Tsai-Tse was put at the
head of a committee for dealing with the official system, and
before the year closed there were several changes of
importance introduced, tending towards more simplicity of
methods in public business and more centering of
responsibilities. Examinations in Western subjects of
knowledge began to replace the old conventional examinations
in classic Chinese literature, as tests for admission and
promotion in official service, and eagerness was shown in the
opening of schools and colleges that approached the European
and American type. Simultaneously with these stirrings of a
new consciousness and purpose in China, a great moral reform
was taken in hand. This was no less than an attempt to rescue
the nation from its opium curse. Some account of the opium
edict issued in September, 1906, will be found elsewhere.
See, (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
That these reformative steps were actually taken with a view
to the ultimate granting of "a constitution to the masses and
allowing suffrage to all" was proved in the summer of 1908,
when a programme of gradual approach to constitutional
government, by stages which extend through the next nine
years, was promulgated at Peking on August 27th. According to
Western ideas the document lacks definiteness, but it is not
difficult to believe in the sincerity of its intent. There may
be great wisdom of sincerity in the serial planning of
successive measures that are to unfold and introduce a
constitution at the end of nine years.
The edict of August 27 was summarized and partially translated
in a communication to the New York _Tribune_, as follows:
"The preamble alone fills twenty large pages and is written in
an incongruous mixture of Chinese Classical terms and new
Japanese terminology invented to fit Western meanings. The
efforts of the authors have been aimed at conveying to the
Chinese mind an understanding of things hitherto beyond its
comprehension. The explanations often convey nothing to the
Western mind.
{96}
"The subject is approached in an almost prayerful attitude.
The fact that China obtains this constitution ‘by the imperial
will’ is reiterated again and again. It is set forth that the
imperial government, under the constitution, shall not be
criticised, on the principle that the ‘sacred majesty of the
sovereign may not be offended against,’ and that the leaders
of the political parties are to be appointed by the throne.
Full government under this constitution will become effective
at the end of nine years. While the proposed system is called
constitutional, it is far removed from Western constitutional
government.
"Broadly speaking, the document follows the constitution of
Japan. Some of its most striking clauses follow:
"‘We beg, as the condition of the country is perilous, and the
hearts of the people are uneasy—trouble within and calamity
from without, danger threatening, and no parliament at the
side to investigate matters—that urgent measures may be taken
to overcome half-heartedness and procrastination, that there
may be peace above and completion below.
"‘We have therefore laid down the general principles of the
constitution and the programme for the work of getting
everything in readiness in nine years. These may not be
changed in the least particular.
"‘There will be boundless daily improvement. May the "silken
sounds" descend to inform the empire and fix the road for ten
thousand years, comforting the hopes of the myriads who long
for peace.’
"Fourteen laws are then submitted, as follows:
"1. The Ta Ch’ing Emperor will rule supreme over the Ta Ch’ing
Empire for one thousand generations in succession, and be
honored forever.
"2. Majesty of the sovereign.
"3. Right of promulgating laws.
"4. Convocation, suspension, extension and dissolution
of parliament.
"5. Appointment, payment, promotion, degradation of officials.
"6. Command over army and navy.
"7. Power to make war, peace, treaties; to receive and appoint
ambassadors.
"8. Martial law.
"9. Rewards and pardons.
"10. Right over judges and the administration of laws.
"11. Injunction.
" 12. Right of raising funds when parliament is not in session.
"13. Right of fixing the expenses of the imperial household.
"14. Respecting authority over the imperial clan.
"‘We look to our Empress Dowager and Emperor and see that they
take the measure of heaven and earth as their measure and the
heart of the people as their heart. The officials and people
within the wide seas are reverently grateful.
"‘The people should earnestly fulfil all the duties without
selfish reservations, which would hinder the public welfare,
and without rash impatience, which would confuse the
regulation; not looking on the matter as too easy, so that the
deliberations become empty wrangling, not failing to
understand the limitation of powers, so as to make laws which
overstep authority.
"‘The sovereign has absolute power, which he exercises in
constitutional form.’
"It is then set forth that on the dissolution of parliament
the people shall be called on to elect a new parliament, and
the document continues:
"‘Mercy is from above; officials, below, may not arrogate it
to themselves.
"‘Officers and people who keep within the law will have
freedom of speech, of the press and of assembly. They shall
not be disturbed without cause in their possession of
property, nor interfered with in their dwellings; and they
have the obligation to pay taxes and render military service
and the duty of obedience to the law of the land.
"‘Members of parliament shall not speak disrespectfully of the
court or slander others. Violation of this law will be
punished.’
"The nine year programme is as follows:
"‘Thirty-fourth year of Kwang Hsu, or 1908—Local
self-government; rules for reorganization of finance; fusion
of the Manchu and Chinese military; revision of criminal code.
"‘Thirty-fifth year, or 1909—Election of provincial
assemblymen; election to constitutional commission; local
self-government bureaus established; census; provincial
budgets; determination of functions of Peking officials;
issuing of school books.
"‘Thirty-sixth year, or 1910—Provincial assemblies opened;
local self-government established; census reports; tax rate
fixed; organization of provincial officials; courts of law at
provincial capitals and treaty ports; publishing criminal
code; extension of schools; preparation for organization of
sub-prefecture; department and district police.
"‘Thirty-seventh year, or 1911—Local self-government
continued; public account; imperial budget; rules on imperial
taxation; rules governing appointments and salaries of civil
officials; extension of schools; codes of municipal and
commercial laws and civil and criminal procedure drawn up.
"‘Thirty-eighth year, or 1912—Completion of general
arrangement of urban self-government; census reports;
publication of taxation laws of empire; perfection of
arrangements for provincial and lesser courts; extension of
schools.
"‘Thirty-ninth year, or 1913—Police registration; imperial
trial budget of variable expenses; Supreme Court; courts of
law in prefectures, sub-prefectures, departments and
districts; criminal code promulgated; urban self-government
established; rules for rural self-government; rules for urban
police.
"‘Fortieth year, or 1914—Imperial trial budget of fixed
expenses; publication of system of national accounts; rural
self-government established; rules for lower courts.
"‘Forty-first year, or 1915—Imperial household expenses fixed;
organization of the Banners’ controller’s office; public
accounting enforced; lower courts established; municipal and
commercial laws and civil and criminal procedure rules
established; police system complete.
"‘Forty-second year, or 1910—Promulgation of full constitution
and the laws of the imperial clan; parliamentary rules and
rules for parliamentary elections; budget for consideration of
parliament; reorganized official system; appointment of a
premier.’
"The document concludes with these words:
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"'In the forty-third year of Kwang Hsu, or 1917, China will
be, by following this plan, a parliamentary country like Japan
or Russia.'"
_China's Constitution
(New York Tribune, October 19, 1908)._
Prince Ito, the veteran statesman of Japan, regards the
constitutional experiment in China with more anxiety than
hopefulness. Speaking on the subject in August, 1909, he
expressed doubt of its success, and thought failure would
imperil peace in the Far East. His reasoning in brief was
this:
"First—the enormous area of the Empire and the defective
facilities for communication would greatly impede the
assembling of a Parliament, especially in time of emergency.
Secondly, the immovable character of Chinese conservatism
forbade a change even of the system of taxation,
notwithstanding the State’s urgent need of funds, and there
was, therefore, still greater difficulty in effecting the
radical alterations required by a constitutional system.
Thirdly, the Chinese were untrained in local administration,
the institution of which was an essential prelude to a
national Assembly. He said he was astonished at the silence of
Occidental publicists on this question so vital to the peace
of the Orient."
CHINA: A. D. 1905-1908.
Chinese Exclusion Laws of the United States.
Boycott of American goods in the Empire.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
CHINA: A. D. 1905-1909.
Disputes with Japan.
The Fa-ku-menn Railway and the Antung-Mukden Railway questions.
Settlement of the latter by Japanese ultimatum.
It could hardly have been possible for cordially friendly
relations to be maintained between China and Japan, in the
circumstances which transferred to the latter the extensive
rights and privileges in Southern Manchuria, which Russia had
acquired in that Chinese province by treaty and lease. By a
protocol of December, 1905, after the closing of the
Russo-Japanese War, there was an attempt, between Peking and
Tokyo, to define the effects of the Treaty of Portsmouth,
especially in the bearings of that article of the Treaty which
ceded to Japan, "with the consent of the Government of China,
the lease of Port Arthur, of Talien, and of the adjacent
territories and territorial waters, as well as the rights,
privileges and concessions connected with this lease or
forming part thereof," and likewise, of "all the public works
and property within the territory over which the above lease
extends"; but misunderstandings and differences of opinion
were sure to arise. Whether it has been more by the fault of
Japan than of China that they arose and increased until, in
the past year, they became a serious estrangement, is a
question on which the judgment of foreign observers is
conflicting. The veteran representative of the London Times at
Peking, whose friendship for the Chinese is fast-fixed by long
residence among them, lays the greater weight of
responsibility on Japan, though he finds a lack of
reasonableness on both sides. Japan, he says (writing July 19,
1909), was welcomed in China with open arms after her
victorious war. "No nation ever had a greater opportunity, and
faulty must have been the policy which in so short a time has
wrought so great a change. Japan is now regarded with a
comprehensive distrust that is most disquieting.
Not long ago more than 1,000 Japanese of different classes
were employed in China, in schools and colleges, in the army
and police, in law and prison reform, in agriculture and
sericulture, in telephone and electric light companies, on
railways, and in many other capacities. At present there are
fewer than 400, 52 of whom are in Peking, and these numbers
will be further reduced as existing contracts expire. Similar
reductions are noted in the number of Chinese being educated
in Japan. Three years ago there were more than 20,000; last
year there were more than 10,000. The number now is 5,125, and
only yesterday it was arranged that in the case of a body of
300 Government students just returned to China, only 88 would
be sent to take their places."
"At present each country, through its Press, is protesting
against the unreasonableness of the other. Contradictory
statements on questions of fact are made on almost every point
at issue."
The main contention has related to the projected extension by
China of a railway to Fa-ku-menn from the terminus of an
existing line at Hsin-min-tun, west of Mukden. It was in the
agreement of December, 1905, that no railways in competition
with the South Manchurian line, which Japan took from Russia,
should be built. The Japanese assert that they had in view
this very Fa-ku-menn extension when that stipulation was
inserted. The Chinese declare that the negotiation on their
part had reference solely to the area east of the Liao River.
Japan made two alternative proposals for the settlement of
this question: "One that the Chinese should build a railway
from Fa-ku-menn to the South Manchurian Railway instead of to
Hsin-min-tun, or that the Japanese should build a railway from
the South Manchurian line to Fa-ku-menn and thence to the
North, in which case Japan would withdraw her objection to the
Fa-ku-menn-Hsin-min-tun railway, provided that China undertook
not to extend the line beyond Fa-ku-menn without a previous
agreement with Japan." China is said to have declined
discussion of these proposals, but offered arbitration of the
whole matter. Japan objected to arbitration without previous
discussion of her new proposals. And so the dispute seemed
deadlocked.
Another dispute turned on the interpretation of a clause in
the Agreement of December, 1905, which reads: "China agrees
that Japan has the right to improve the Antung-Mukden Railway
so as to make it fit for the conveyance of commercial and
industrial goods of all nations." Japan undertook, as a
necessary "improvement" of the road, to reconstruct it, with a
change of gauge to connect it with the standard gauge of the
South Manchuria and Korean roads. China denied that the
agreement gave a right to reconstruction. Several other
questions arising between the two peoples have helped to raise
hard feeling on both sides; but these have seemed to be at the
front.
At length on the 6th of August, 1909, Japan brought discussion
of the Antung-Mukden Railway question to a summary ending, by
a note to the Chinese Government which announced that "the
Imperial Government is now compelled to take independent
action, and to proceed to carry out the necessary work of
reconstruction and improvement according to treaty rights."
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Before taking this decisive step, the Japanese Government is
said to have consulted Great Britain and other powers, and to
have had approval of her action from London, if not from
elsewhere. China yielded to the ultimatum, and this leading
cause of quarrel between the great nations of the East was
removed on the 4th of September by the signing, at Mukden, of
a memorandum of agreement, reported in substance as follows:
China agrees, first, not to construct the
Hsin-min-tum-Fa-ku-men Railroad without consulting Japan;
second, that half the capital required to extend the Kirin
Railroad shall be borrowed in Japan; third, that Japan will be
permitted to extend the Yinkow and improve and modernize the
Antung-Mukden Railroads, to which China was bitterly opposed;
fourth, that Japan may work the mines in the Fushun and Yentai
districts, and have joint exploitation of the mines reached by
the Antung and Manchurian Railroad lines.
In the Chientao boundary dispute Japan agrees to recognize
China’s sovereignty, while China agrees to open four trade
marts in the district.
In a letter to a London journal, a few days before this
settlement of the Antung-Mukden Railway question, Lord
Stanhope said:
"The Chinese have surely deeper reasons for opposing this
scheme than the mere fact of reconstruction. They well realize
that this railway, crossing narrow valleys, can have no
commercial future, but is virtually a strategic railway to
strengthen the Japanese grip on Manchuria."
CHINA: A. D. 1906.
A Commission sent to America and Europe for the study of
political and other institutions.
The new spirit astir in China was manifested in the early
months of 1906 by the sending of a large Commission of
carefully chosen men to the United States and Europe, for
observations that would be helpful toward reforms in their own
country. It was headed by two High Commissioners of
distinction, Tai Hung-chi and Tuan Fang, and they were
attended by thirty-five scholars and functionaries of note.
They received much attention during their stay of five weeks
in the United States, and were placed by the Government under
the special charge of Professor J. W. Jenks. Writing
subsequently of their mission Professor Jenks said:
"The purpose of the commission is, primarily, to make such a
study of the political institutions of the various countries
visited that they will be able, on their return, to offer
valuable suggestions for the improvement of their own. There
is even serious talk among the high officials in China of some
form of a constitution. In consequence, the commissioners are
as eager to learn regarding the working of some of our
institutions as regarding their form of organization. Inasmuch
as political reform necessarily involves social reform, even
as a condition precedent, the commission is devoting special
attention to the study of education, in universities and
schools, and to methods of social amelioration, in prisons and
asylums for the insane and the poor. They, however, are not
neglecting the study of our large manufacturing plants, and
have clearly in mind, also, the improvement of the industrial
conditions of China. It is a matter of peculiar interest that
the Empress-Dowager charged them to inquire especially into
the education of girls in the United States, since she hoped,
on their return, to be able to found a school for the
education of the daughters of the princes."
CHINA: A. D. 1906.
Sixty cities being opened to foreign settlement.
A memorandum on the subject of the foreign settlements at the
open ports of China, prepared by the Chinese Secretary of the
American Legation at Peking, was transmitted to the State
Department at Washington in December, 1906. It conveyed the
following information:
"In China proper and in Manchuria 46 cities and towns have
been thrown open already to foreign residence and
international trade. This does not include Dalny, in
Manchuria, leased to Japan; Wei-hai-wei, in Shantung, leased
to Great Britain; Kiaochow, in Shantung, leased to Germany;
Kowloon, in Kuangtung, leased to Great Britain; nor
Kuang-chou-wan, in Kuangtung, leased to France. Besides the
above, there are 3 cities in Tibet thrown open to trade,
making 49 ports in the Empire. In addition to these already
declared open, there are 13 cities whose opening in the
immediate future is arranged for, and 3 others whose opening
depends upon the acceptance by other treaty powers of the
provisions of Article VIII. of the last commercial treaty
between China and Great Britain. No account is taken of the
cities of Turkestan, Mongolia, and the Amur region, in which
Russian subjects have for many years enjoyed privileges of
trade and consular jurisdiction. It will be seen, therefore,
that in the immediate future foreigners will enjoy the right
of residence for purposes of trade at more than 60 cities of
the Chinese Empire."
CHINA: A. D. 1906.
Edict against the use of opium.
See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
CHINA: A. D. 1906 (January).
Chinese students in Japan.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1906.
CHINA: A. D. 1906-1907.
Flood and famine in the region traversed by the Grand Canal.
One of the frequent destructive floods in China which produce
famine befell the region that is traversed by the Grand Canal
in the summer of 1906. Heavy rains covered its vast plains
with lakes of water, which drowned out the crops throughout an
area estimated at 40,000 square miles. From ten to fifteen
millions of people were reduced to famine, and could only be
kept alive until the harvests of another year by the
generosity of the outside world. It was not vainly appealed
to; but the suffering and death in the afflicted country were
appallingly great.
CHINA: A. D. 1906-1907.
Christian Missions.
See (in this Volume)
MISSIONS: CHINA.
CHINA: A. D. 1907-1909.
Restriction on Chinese immigration to Canada.
Labor hostility.
Riotous attacks.
Lately modified regulations.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: CANADA.
CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Expansion of the Postal Service.
According to a report from Peking on the working of the
Imperial Chinese Post Office in 1908, "the operations show an
unprecedented expansion." The postal routes cover 88,000
miles, of which 68,000 are courier lines. The number of post
offices open in 1901 was 176. There were 2,803 open in 1907,
and 3,493 in 1908. The number of postal articles handled in
1901 was 10,000,000. The number was 168,000,000 in 1907, and
252,000,000 in 1908. The number of parcels was 127,000,
weighing 250 tons, in 1901; 1,920,000, weighing 5,509 tons, in
1907; and 2,445,000, weighing 27,155 tons, in 1908.
CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Administration of the Department of Education.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1908.
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CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Chinese students in the United States.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1908.
CHINA: A. D. 1908 (November).
Death of the Emperor, Kuang-hsu,
and of the Empress-Dowager, Tze-Hsi.
Accession of the child-Emperor, Hsuan-Tung (Pu-Yi).
The circumstances of the death, almost simultaneously, of the
late Emperor, Kuang-hsu, and of the Dowager-Empress, Tze-Hsi,
who had been the real ruler of the Empire, are involved in
considerable obscurity. The Emperor is said to have died on
the 14th of November, 1908, and the Empress on the following
day. The announcement of their decease was preceded by the
publication of two imperial edicts, one of which made Prince
Chun, of the royal family, Regent of the Empire, while the
other named Pu-Yi, the Prince’s son, three years old, as the
heir presumptive to the throne. As communicated later to
foreign governments, the Regent was given, by another imperial
rescript, full power over the civil and military departments
of government, and the entire appointment and dismissal of
officials. The promised creation of a Parliament was
anticipated in the prescription of his duties, among which
were the following:
"When a Parliament has been established the Prince Regent
shall attend the same in place of the Emperor, but he need not
attend the ordinary sessions. When the Constitutional
Commission meets, the Prince Regent shall likewise represent
the Emperor there.
"The Prince Regent shall have full authority in negotiating
treaties and in appointing representatives abroad.
"The Prince Regent shall enter and leave his chair at the
Ch’ien Ch’ing gate. The yamens, according to their duty, shall
draw up and report on regulations modelled on the precedent
established by Prince Jui-Chung regarding the equipage,
escort, and general preparations for movements of the Prince
Regent outside the palace.
"Every year the Board of Finance shall transfer to the
Department of the Imperial Household the sum of taels 150,000
for disbursement. When the Emperor comes of age, his studies
being completed, and his marriage takes place, the official
body shall unite in asking him to assume personal direction of
the government."
On the 21st of November the members of the Diplomatic Corps at
Peking were received in a body at the palace, to present the
condolences of the Governments they represent on the deaths of
the late Emperor and Empress. As reported to the Associated
Press, there were present on the occasion "every official or
member of the imperial family who recently has been reported
ill, dead by his own hand or estranged from the government,
and the desired impression of official stolidity at Pekin
which, it was most evident, this occasion was intended to
convey, was imparted successfully. This was the answer of the
government to the rumors of suicides and deaths current in
Pekin for the last week.