Newspaper Page Text
/
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA„ TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY,
'President and Editor.
© DESCRIPTION PRICE
Twelve months 75c
Six Months 40c
Three months 25c
The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday
and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes fkr
* early delivery.
It contains news # from all over the world, brought
by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff
cf distinguished contributors, with strong department.^
of special value tp the home and the farm.
Agents wanted at every postoffice. Liberal com
mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R. BRAD*
LEY. Circulation Manager. •
The only traveling representatives we have are
J. A. Bryan, R. F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle, L. H. Kim
brough and C. T. Yates. We will be responsible only
for money paid to the above named traveling repra-
sentatives.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
The label used for addressing your pap«r
shows the time your subscription expires. By
renewing at* least two weeks before the date on
this label, you insure regular service.
In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention
your old, as well as your new address. If on a
routef please give the route number.
We s cannot enter subscriptions to begin with
back numbers. Remittances should be sent by
postal order or registered mail.
Address all orders and notices for this de
partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL.
Atlanta, Ga.
Cattle Raising in the South.
* * •
Secretary Wilson, of the federal Department of
Agriculture, predicts that in the future a consider
able part <5f the nation ? meat supply will come from
the south. His belief is based on a knowledge of
the section's .soil, climate and other natural condi
tions, all of which an especially favorable to the
cattle raising industry. There are millions of acres
of land now idle which, as the Secretary declares,
could be turned to profitable account in the produc
tion of live* stock. Soil that is not suited to the so-
called staple crops may be admirably adapted to
pasturage.
In addition to this, there are in the South vast
areas of land which, though they are now being
used^for other' purposes, would yield their richest re
turns in cattle raising. According to the Bureau of
Soils, the finest forage in America can be erown in
certain types of clay and loam that abound in the
Southern States.
Much land that now produces spring and sum
mer crops could be used for winter pasturage, with
out interference with purely agricultural interests,
but, on the contrary, with distjpet benefit to the soil.
As Secetary Wilson declares:
“It is not infrequently the ,case that on a
Southern plantation the present acrea’ge of crops
grown for the market could be 'mainlined
the same timt“—land not now in use
could be made available for fattening beef cat
tle and for fctteni/ig hogs.”
The miid and equable climate of the South ren
ders cattle raising far less expensive than in the
rigorous sections of the North and West. Open
forage is available the year around and 'the cost of
sheltering is reduced to a minimum.
Thus, by every natural'circumstance the South
is one of the most advantageous regions on the
earth for stock production; and there are cheering
omens»that its farmers are awakening to the oppor
tunities before them.
The one great obstacle to profitable cattle rais
ing in the South has been the presence of the cattle
tick. Happily, hpwever, this destructive *pest id-fast
being eradicated. Nearly two hundred thousand
square miles have been released from the tick
quarantine and every month adds to the extent of
the purged territory. When this impediment is
overcome, as it soon will be, cattle production in
the South will feel a new impetus and will become
a tremendous source of enrichment.
The “Seniority” Rule.
Public sentiment ..nd public judgment undoubt
edly approve the purpose of Democratic leaders to
organize the national Senate along practical and
progressive lines. The only protest comes from a
frayed remnant of Standpatters who naturally be
wail every step in popular government. To them,
the so-called “sen ; onty” rule, which has hitherto
shaped the Senate’s regime, is a fetish to be pre
served in all circumstances and at all (hazards. They
would cling to the ancient Chinese practice which
awarded “the peacock’s feather and the yellow jacket
to tue oldest mandarin.” In the plan to allot chair
manships and other responsible places on a basis
of real merit and ability rather than mere length of
office tenure, they feign to see a tri,ck of new men
to relegate the abler and more experienced Snators
to minor stations.
Nothing could be further from thfe true intent of
Democratic leaders. It is in no wise their object to
belittle or obscure r£al talent and worth but, on the
contrary, to open the way for deserved advancement
and to utilize the Senate’s best material for the good
of the party and the nation. If a Senator has
served on a committee far many sessions and has
done his work well, then, to be sure, he is entitled
to honor and preference, for his experience has sea
soned him (o greater usefulness.
An apposite instance is presented by the record
of Senator Bacon, of Georgia. He has been in the
Senate for nearly a score of years. By his faithful
ness and capacity, he has earned the confidence of
his colleagues and of his State and has proved him
self pr’e-eminently qualified for stations of high
trust. The loosening of the seniority rule would not
#nd could not lower the rank of a statesman like
Senator Bacon; for he depends upon no such arti
ficial basis of advancement.
In so far as the seniority rule makes length of
service plus ability and allegiance to the people's
interests a criterion it is not to be criticised. But
In so far as it makes mere length of office holding,
the chief factor in the Senate’s organization, it is
absurd and un-Democratic.
Democracy’s strength in the new Senate should
he made to count for its utmost in the way of
prompt and efficient performance; and to that end
committee places and chairmansnips should be as
signed primarily on a basis of merit and of capacity
for service. Whenever or however the seniority rule
conflicts with such a program, it ought to be unhes
itatingly disregarded.
The Promise of Home Rule.
Though it is all but predestined that the Lords
will reject the Irish Home Rule bill recently passed
by the House of Commons, there is good reason to
believe that the measure will become a law within
the life of the present Parliament.
Twenty years ago Gladstone's second Home Rule
bill was defeated by the Peers after it had received
a meager majority from the Commons; and at that
time defeat was regarded as conclusive. The Lords
held a veto power that was then absolute and the
Liberal ministry Was trembling toward its fall.
Today, however, conditions are vastly different.
For one thing, Mr. Asquith’s bill is more skilfully
framed and is more acceptable to the rank and filf
of his party and to the English public than was
that of his famous predecessor. It guarantees Ire
land effective control of local interests, but at the
same time it piakeo no encroachments upon the sov
ereignty of the Empire. This feature of the bill
is aptly described by the Boston Transcript: “In
many respects, the Asquith experiment reflects the
influence of the success of the federation idea in the
United States. The upper house of the proposed
Irish parliament is and will be called the Senate.
Gladstone-was not. a Democrat socially nor a Repub
lican politically. Compared with his sucoessors in
Liberal leadership he may almost be classified as a
Conservative. Asquith leans toward Democracy,
reconciled with authority.”
Not only is there a difference between the bill
that was rejected twenty years ago and the one now
pending; there is also a vital difference between
the strategic position of the Liberal party today
and at the time of Gladstone’s leadership. In 1S93,
the party was divided over the Home Rule issue and
the Commons igave the bill a majority of only thirty-
four votes. ’The present bill received a majority of
one hundred and ten and it represents, beyond
question, the mature and earnest conviction of the
party’s rank and file. ' -
Within the past few years, the Liberal ministry
has weathered high political storms. At times its
existence has seemed precarious. By-elections have
frequently gone against its candidates. It has often
staggered under its great tasks but it has moved
boldly forward.
It|i opponents, on the contrary, have lacked a
definite and constructive program. Their opposition
has not been that of a party seeking reforms, but
of a reactionary group. *
The Tories’ slogan', besides their cry against
home rule for Ireland, has been, an appeal for tariff
on;English imports and within the past month they
have hopelessly split on this issue.
Indeed, the condition of th e English Tories is
today almost comparable to that of the American
Republican party before the last Presidential elec
tion.
In these circumstances, the Liberals have a fair
prospect of keeping control of the government for
some time to come; and, if they do, the Home Rule
bill is virtually assured of success, despite the House
of Lords.
The Peers are now a different power from what
they were in Gladstone’s day. As Mr, John Red
mond, the Irish leader, expressed, it, “The Lords
have teeth but they can ho longer bite.” As a re
sult of recent Liberal legislation, they can suspend
for a season a piece of legislation passed by the
Commons, but if the measure is passed twice again
at two successive sessions of Parliament, by virtue
of that fact it becomes a law. Home Rule for Ire
land may thus, and probably will become a reality
within the next two sessions of parliament.
The Lure of Exploration.
The fact that both the North and the South pole
have been discovered seems in no Jvise to have
chilled the zeal for arctic adventure. Dr. Cook, to
be sure, has dropped into unimaginative privacy and
Commander Peary contents himself with an occa
sional lecture or banquet.' But Amunsden, fresh in
the triumphs of his South pole quest, is preparing
to seek the farthest North, and Viehpalmur Stefans-
son, who became famous last year as the discoverer
of a tribe of blond Eskimos on King Edward Island,
is soon to fare forth on another expedition to that
mysterious people.
This venture is to he essayed under the patron
age of the National Geographic Society, which has
appropriated twenty-two thousand dollars for the
explorer’s use. A similar fund for the same pur
pose has been subscribed by the American Museum
qf Natural History. There is no lack of willing
financiers for polar expeditions.
How typical It is of human nature that even in
this twentieth century when the earth’s seas have
nearly all been charted and its wildernesses pathed,
the old instinct for exploration should still be ardent!
It matters little that the frozen tips of the.'planet
have been found, that jungles and mountain peaks,
which a few centuries ago were known only to
legend and romance, are now as familiar as- an
orchard lane. The treasure islands still beckon, the
caves of Baba have lost none of their ancient lure.
Whatever is unknown, is still magnificent. And
should there ever come a time when the earth’s last
secret has been unkennelled, men will sit, like the
king of old, and weep for new worlds to explore.
Will Turkey Yield?
The decision of the Porte to convene the National
Assembly in order that the note of the Powers and
the demands of the Balkan allies may be taken under
freer advisement is generally interpreted as meaning
that Turkey will make further and perhaps satisfac
tory concessions.
The week closed with little prospect of peace.
The Ottoman envoys at London, reflecting the tem
per of the Turkish cabinet, intimated that the pro
posed ceding of Adrianople and of the Aegean islands
would meet a fiat refusal.
In that event, the Balkan States would doubtless
renew the war, unless the larger Powers agreed to
bring extraordinary, pressure to bear upon the Porte.
The calling of the Assembly, however, indicates
that the Turkish leaders realize - the hazardous con
ditions that confront their government and that if
they are given authority to do so by the Assembly
they will concede to the terms of the Allies or at
ieast accede to the advice of the Powers.
Whatever the outcome of this particular situation
maj be, it seems evident that the position of the
Turks is growing steadily more precarious and that
soon they will be compelled to renounce the greater
part of their European domain.
More Light on the Money Trust.’
The most candid and, in a sense, the most inter
esting testimony yet developed in the Money Trust
.investigation wad given to the Pujo committee of
Congress on Thursday by Mr. George M. Reynolds,
president of the Continental and Commercial Na
tional Bank, of Chicago. The financial peers preced
ing him have been for the most as frigidly reserved
as a sensitive spinster whose age is being discussed.
Their air has been that of quiet resentment over the
lively interest which Congress and the public are
taking in the doings of Wall Street's inner court.
Some of them have pooh-poohed the Money Trust as
a. myth; others have practically admitted its reality,
but have ridiculed the suggestion of a return to com
petitive methods; while still others have bluntly
averred that these affairs are none of the public’s
business.
Mr. Reynolds, on the contrary, admitted promptly
and patly, that the control of the country’s money
and credit has become centered in the hands of a
few men, and that such power could he used to op
pression and injury of common economic rights and
interests. He is the same financier, it is worth not
ing, who declared a year or so ago that the money
power of the United States is in the grasp of a dozen
men, of whom he was one. .
“In my opinion,” he said to. the Committee,
“the concentration of money and credit has al
ready gone so far as to constitute a menace. I
dq not mean to say by this,” he added, “that the
people now in control have used their power
unfairly.”
How interestingly does this statement match the
more reluctant admission, made to the Committee
last week by Mr. George F. Baker, of New York, a
commanding figure of the Morgan group, when he
said that the present concentration of money and
credit is "not an entirely comfortable condition for
the country to be in.” i
Slowly but surely, the gentlemen who sit within
the hitherto sacrec! precincts of the Money Trust
are compelled to admit its real power and its real
peril.
They may call their giant confederacy by divers
names—-“a practical men’s agreement,” “a co-opera
tive arfangement,” “an informal alliance”—but when
simmered down their words mean hut one thing;
and that is that through- Schemes of interlocking
directorates, the control of this country’s credit and
hence the indirect, if not the active, control of its
commerce and industry now centers in a small
group of financiers, responsible to no one but. them
selves.
The vital fact is that such power could be used
for the discouragement and even the ruin of inde
pendent enterprise, for the death of competition and
for all other purposes to which a great monopoly is
tempted and which, unchecked, it can accomplish;
One of the most urgent tasks before the new Con
gress will be that of freeing the country’s credit
from chains of the Money Trust. Until that is done,
there can be no true economic liberty, no really open
path for individual initiative, no common prosperity
.open to all men.
South Carolina’s Corn Show.
The National Corn Exposition, which is to be held
at Columbia, S. C„ from January the twenty-seventh
’t6 February the eighth, promises to be one of the
most interesting and fruitful events of the kind
Ameriqa has known.
Twenty-seven States, comprising - a large area of
the South and the West, wilt make exhibits, showing
the results of their, agricultural research and en
deavor. . Eight hundred contestants for honors in
farming progress, many of whom are members of
the I?oys’ Corn clubs, will' be present as guests of
the city and State. The federal Department of Agri
culture will install the largest and most compre
hensive exhibit it has ever made. The basis of the
exposition is thus extraordinarily broad and deep.
The South Carolinians have proved their mettle
by guaranteeing the expenses of the enterprise and
by providing adequate buildings and facilities. The
extent of their preparation is instanced by the fact
that tone of the buildings erected for this purpose at
Columbia is of steel construction and covers sixty-
seveli thousand feet of floor space.
The design of the exposition is distinctly educa
tional. One of its promoters has aptly described it
by saying: “It will present a broad view of agricul
tural .progress throughout the nation, extending from
the work done by the federal department of agricul
ture to the achievements* by individuals in many
Stated during the preceding year. The problems of
the farmer and of rural life will be emphasized and
handled with ability. Addresses by eminent men
and lectures by experts will constitute one of the
educational features.”
Such an exposition means much to the entire
country and especially to the South. It merits the
public’s cordial sympathy and support.
THE GENEALOGIST
College 'Park, Jan. 13, 1913.
Editor The Journal:
The following is an extract from a letter received
r, ently and I now wish I had sent it to you in pref
erence to the one delivered to yo-- by Mr Fred Shaefer
x % nday last:
“Dear Mrs. Hogan:
• I have not the connecting link between
Thomas Graves, of Virginia (1607), and the first
John Graves, of North Carolina. . .
"Thomas Graves, who came to Georgia, was
my father’s great-unclfe and son Of John Graves.
“My mother died When I was fpur years old.
My father twenty years ago. I have often heard
him speak with' much affection of his cousin,
John Graves, that he visited previous to the war,
near Atlanta. His visits were made before Atlan
ta was built. The naming of that city was dis
cussed in his presence and family, by the engi
neers in charge of work on the railroad. The fi
nal decision was made by his cousin, Elizabeth
Graves, as between the names, ‘Atlantis,’ "Atalan-
tea,’ and ‘Atlanta.’ This is my impression, as re
membered from my father’s conversation. I am
quite sure he told me that Elizabeth Graves'
trunk held the first money that was brought to
pay for the construction of the first railroad to
Atlanta.
"Another visit of my father’s previous to his
meeting and marriage to my mother, was to
Graves’ relatives in LaGrange, Ga. One of the
loveliest and most cultured women I have ever
met in my Graves connection was Mollie Graves,
graduated at a LaGrange college before coming
with her father, Dr. Wash Graves, to Texas, pre
vious to the war. She has been dead some twen
ty-five years.
“1 have heard my aunt in North Carolina speak
of her lovely Georgia cousins, a Charles Graves
(naval officer, I think) et al. She was a Miss
Lea, and married William Graves, of North Caro
lina, and visited relatives in Georgia years ago.”
"Many inquiries have come to me, and I thought
this would be of interest to your many readers. I
am Very respectfully,
“MRS. MINNIE E. HOGAN.”
The above letter was from Alden Bridge, Bossier
Parish, La., signed Mrs. M. G. S.
JL—
master
urw, verb
By
Dr. Frank
Crane
J?* i, < ^
As a usual thing dictionaries are interesting read
ing, and reasonably clear and concise. But it is when
they come to the simpler words that they fail most
sharply. Definitions are extreme^
ly difficult, of course; if you
don’t believ© it try to defitie ex
actly the words “hard,” “ball”
and “man.”
However, dictionary men ought
to be experts. They are not.
Take, for example, the vertf “to
get.” which is prcbably the most
English of all English words,
and the most idiomatic and sub
tle of all speech forms. Examine
the Century, the Standard and
Webster dictionaries. If we may
suppose you do not really know
what the word means, and want
to find out, we can see that you
will be disappointed.
Several columns in the Centu
ry are devoted to the many
meanings of “get.” The other two mentioned word
books also attempt to give this baffling word’s myriad
shades. The result is confusion.. '
For the sake of word lovers I will set the matter
straight. The verb “to get” has two meanings, and
only two.
1. To,- get means “to cause somebody or some
thing to ootain,” and
2. “To cause somebody or something to be, or to
become.”
That’s all. All of the bewildering examples in the
dictionaries can be reduced to one of these definitions.
Yet there are some peculiarities of this verb to be
pointed out.
“Get” always has two objects.
If two are not expressed, then one of them is un
derstood. The understood object is the subject. Hence,
“get,” with on e or no^xpressed object, t is a reflexive
verb, that is to say, a verb whose object is its subject.
Example: “I get John a horse” means “I cause
John to obtain possession of a horse.” But. "I get a
horse” means “I <*ause myself to obtain possession of
a horse.”
' Again, “The doctor can get you well” equals “Tne
doctor can cause ’ you to become well ;” while “The
doctor can get. well” means “The doctor can cause him
self to become well.”
Note also: “Get” shows the gr^mmarlessness of
the English tongue by taking an adjective, an, adverb,
or a preposition as one of its objects, or, if you ob
ject to the term object, say, complement or predicate.
“I get up” means “I cause myself to become, or be,
up ” “I get him up” means “I cause him to become,
or be, up.”
But twiut and bend “get” into any one of its pro
tean shapes, you will always find it to have one of the
two significances I have given.
For instance, take this paragraph and experiment
with it: It was getting toward 6 o’clock when’ I got
through sleeping, got awake, got out of bed, and got
washed. I got mv clothes on and got down to break-
St, where I found the cook had got a nice beefsteak
for me. The family all got excited at the news that
our neighbor had got into a scrape. We got the motor
out and got downtown as soon as possible. The weath
er had got warm. While getting some gloves Kitty
got overheated and almost got a sunstroke. A young
man tried t<S help her, but she cried out: “Get you
gone! I shall get on without you. Get out!” “That’s
what one gets for trying to be polite,” he said.
The meannig “cause myself to become” often
shades ne’arly to “become,” simply; thus “it was get
ting toward 6 o’clock” is alrtiost equivalent to “it ^as
becoming 8 o’clock;” yet always there is a suggestion
of “causing.”
When the object of get is a noun the verb means
“to obtain possession of,” or, more accurately, “to
cause one of its objects to. obtain possession cf the
other,” as “I get you a hat.”
When the complement (object or predicate) of
“get” is an adjective, adverb or preposition, the verb
has the meaning “to cause to become” (or simply “be
come”), as, “I get better.”
English is the most flexible of all languages, afid
no word of all our words is so tricky, shrewd and al
together such a “Jack-of-all-trades as the verb “get.”
A bright foreigner can “learn English in twenty les
sons” by on© of the advertised methods; but to* learn
how to use idiomatically such a word as “get” he
needs to be soaked in a strong English environment for
about te'ri years.
The Republic of China
I. THE CHINESE REVOLUTION.
By
Frederic
J. Haskin
The renewed agitation of protest against the fail
ure of the United States government officially to rec
ognize the republic of China recalls sharply the dy-
narrtic upheaval of one short!
m
\ •" -x -
MAKE LIFE ON FARM
ATTRACTIVE—BARRETT
January 18. 1913.
Editor The Journal, Atlanta, Ga.:
I want tp commend, specifically, the spirit of you*
editorial of Sunday, January 12, under the, caption,
“Turning Agricultural Knowledge to Account,” and
also to seize the opportunity to thank you for the uni
formly sympathetic and intelligent attitude of The
Journal toward the better interests of the farmer.
The editorial in question indicates a oroad compre
hension of what is called the “rural problem.” You
intimate that the welfare of the farming class is syn
onymous of the welfare of the nation, and that has al
ways been one of my favorite jontentions. Extension
of agricultural education, through whatever means,
will reflect benefit not only upon its immediate recip
ients but equally upon every element of our popula
tion. For, at the last analysis, it is the farmer who is
the primary creator of wealth and prosperity in this
country and unless all is well with him the nation
cannot look forward to permanent advancement of the
right sort.
Speaking not alone for the Farmers’ union, but also
ijor the American farmer generally, for the interests of
the organized and unorganized framer are really in-
techangeable, we hope that the next few years are go
ing - to witness an unprecedented awakening on the
part of the country to the realization of its obligation
to the man of the acres. Knowing your record in be
half of progressive agricultural movements, I have no
hesitation in asking your co-operation for the meas
ures the farmers and their best friends may take to
hasten this awakening.
It is excellent to carry scientific knowledge to the
farmer. But it is imperative to do even more. Along
with it, we must carry better living conditions, a
clearer understanding of his economic and industrial
problems, an effort to make easier his pathway and
to multiply the advantages and pleasures available to
his wife and children.
\ The lrger part of what has been termed the rural
unrest in America is duo to the fact that people in the
cities apd the Federal and state governments, as a
whole, have not approached the question of the farm
er from an angle sufficiently sweeping. The farmer
realizes himself that he has made great strides in the
past few years. But he feels that, to an extent, he is
a factor still set apart from tile broader life of the
nation, the prey to selfish politicians and the victim
of misunderstanding or too hasty judgments.
The mission of the Farmers’ union is to remedy the
conditions thus indicated and beat down the walls, ar
tificial mostly, that now separate the farmer from
the civilization or the efty and its more constructive
ideals. The process is well begun', but will require
patience and energy to erfect its final consummation.
In this undertaking I 4 am confident we may i*ely
upon the aid cf The Journal and other papers of
breadth and vision.
* Again e: press'ng my appreciation of your courte
sies in the past, I lours very truly,
C. S. BARRETT.
The suit of Fritzi Scheff for divorce from John
Fox, Jr., will be cited as proving that artists with
“temperament” cannot trot in matrimonial harness.
But it proves nothing of the kind. Greater artists
have married and lived happily ever afterward.—
Louisville Courier-Journal.
year ago which transformed thej
Celestial Empire into a republic}
—a republic in form at least,
and even this is a high light in|
the renaissance of Chinese self!
government. It is not general- 1
ly known that over 4,000 years
ago the Chinese people main-:
tained a republic and elected
their, own presidents.
* * *
The Chinese revolution of
1911 was startling in its rapid
effectiveness! Perhaps it has
no parallel in history, taking
into consideration the tremen
dous changes of which it was,
the forerunner. The first shot
was fired October 10, 1911, the
boy emperor abdicated on Feb
ruary 12 following, and on
March 10,. just five months to the day after the out
break at Wuchang, sovereignty over 400,000,000 peo
ple changed from a mummified despotism, rigid in its
cruel limitations, to a provisional republic in which the.
tyrannical Manchus and their legion of complacent
Chinese officials had no part. 0
— * * *
For sixteen years Dr.' Sun Yat Sen and his follow
ers had been carefully planning the overthrow of the
Manchu and the eradication of all that their reign typ
ified. They had worked very successfully among the
majority of enlightened Chinese, however placed and
wherever found, and nearly every student who re
turned after a trivial or military education abroad was
at heart a revolutionist. Dr. Sun has since said that
he could have taken • over Canton, Nanking and Wu
chang as early as 1908, but that he was waiting to
further convert the more self-contained soldiery and
officers of Pekin and North China. All this time th#
Manchus anu their barnacle-encrusted Chinese office
holders seemed deaf to the rumblings to which every
body but themselves gave anxious ear.
* * i* '
A date about the middle* of December had been
named fbr the beginning of the revolution the signal
to bo given by Liu King, a member of the Chinese gen
try of the Yangtze. He was twenty-seven years old,
educated in Japan and there became a convert of Dr.
Sun Yat Sen. But on the afternoon of October 9 Sun
Wu, an expert bomb maker in revolutionary employ,
accidentally exploded a bomb while at work in a na
tive house in Hankow. The shack was just back of
the German butcher shop in the Russian concession,
an . only a few doors from the Russian police station.
* * *
Hearing the explosion, the Russian police rushed to
the scene. Sun Wu was injured by the bomb, but es
caped. The Russians caught two other plotters and
found maps, a long roll call, bombs and flags. Wu
chang, capital of Hupeh province, situated just across
the Yangtze river from Hankow, was the subject of a
very elaborate sketch which gave the plan of attack
even then drawn up. Viceroy Jui Cheng was notified
and -acted promptly. He beheaded the two revolution
ists who had been captured. Many suspects, mostly
young students, were then arrested in Hankow and
WUchang. Several of tHese were given short shift.
Their cries for mercy were speedily changed to peans
of praise in the Heavenly choir.
* • *
Ordinarily, a few chain lightning exits like this,
have been quite sufficient to quell disorder in China.
But the worm really had turned this time. Liu King
had escaped, but his wife and his brother \ter» cap
tured. The young woman was not suspected, although!,
she was one of the arch plotters. The brother was
tortured and his death set tor 10 o'clock the next night.)
Liu King saw the necessity of immediate action. Ha
wrote the soldiers that thefr names were known through!
the captured roll call, and that the viceroy would dis- 1
arm and (jxecute them. He told them to wear any
kind of a white band around the arm, and to begin tha
revolt at 10 o’clock that night, the hour his brother
was to die.
...
The soldiers prepared accordingly, but the glory of'
firing the first shots of the revolution went to civil
ians. When darkness fell, or about 7 o'clock, several (
hundred coal miners took possession of the various city
gates and fired off rifles and shotguns without doing
any particular harm. The soldiers, who were in camp
just outside, then came pouring in. Without firing a
shot they took the powder magazine, Hwanghwalo prom
ontory and the Serpent hill. They deployed with two 1
pieces of field artillery In front of the viceroy's ya-
men, but an investigation showed that worthy to have
evaporated through a hole in the back wall. When
next heard of he was safe in Shanghai.
Liu King’s next move was to confer with his asso
ciates over the selection of a trained military man to
be commander-in-chief of the rebel forces, and to figljt
to the death for a republic. They picked Colonel LI
Yuan-hung, commanding the mixed brigade of Impe
rial troops in the Yangtze valley. His men were
. among the revolters. LI refused the dangerous honor,
but was forced to accept. At that time Colonel Li
Yuan-hung was an obscure officer; within two months
he was one of the famous men of the day; now he is
vice president of the provisional republic of China, and
is generally regarded as the coming ‘‘strong man” of
the country.
t ...
In the succeeding five months >fcw China made
more and better history than Old Cfiina had made In
five centuries.) Three days after the revolt at Wu
chang. General Li’s men took Hanyang arsenal, the
biggest in China. It; was guarded by a few of the 300
soldiers who had stuck to the Manchu banner with
General Chang Piao, commanding general of the Hupeh
army. The arsenal was captured after a Skirmish, andl
yielded to the vjetors 140 three-inch guns, 500,000
rounds of ammunition and "enough powder to make 2,-
< 000,000 additional rounds. In another three days the
native city of Hankow, a short disfa’nce up the river,
went over to the republican cause.
/
* * * I
A saturnalia of anarchy then began in both cities.
The vengeance of the soldiers and the rabble was di
rected particularly against the. governmental banks
and offices, but private pa\yn shops and dwellings of
rich citizens did not escape. Later in the revolution,
following alternate reverses and victories, both impe
rialists and revolutionists were guilty of such of
fenses, made more horrible by needless burning, lodT-
ing, murder and rapine. This, together with heavy
loss of life on both sides in the-battles of Hanyang
and Nanking and the burning of Hakow, made the rebel
lion anything but the, bloodless affair which ethusi-
asts have been prone to proclaim it. 1
• * •
In still another three days, or on October 19, the
rebels, uniting with hundreds of raw recruits, gbt their
first taste of actual fighting. They met and easily
defeated the much smaller force of disheartened impe
rialists. It was a skirmish rather than a battle, but
the moral effect was staggering. Immediately re
cruits by the hundreds joined “The Peaplg-’s Army,”
and word came that more or less trained troops, for
mer imperialists, were on the way from Canton and
other southern points. The rebel army soon num
bered 20,000 men, fairly well armed but untrained. At
this time the revolutionary poffers were also in a
healthy state, owing* to the capture of the silver
stocked mint at Hanyang.
* * *
By this time Pekin was galvanized into action.
General Yin Chang, president of the board of war, de-*
spatebed 6,000 regulars of infantry to Hankow at once.
Artillery was a.lso ordered to the front and a base es
tablished at Neikow. about fifteen miles north of Han
kow. Boon between 15,000 and ”0,000 men were mo>~-
ized at that point, and. from that time the 'military'
phase of the revolt turned distinctly to the advantage
of the imperial cause; . (