hese
people who send women to China to convert the "Heathen Chinee," who may
be "peculiar," as Mr. Harte states in his poem; but the Chinaman
certainly has not the marvelous variety of superstitions possessed by
the American, who does not allow cats about rooms where there are
infants, fearing that they will suck the child's breath; who believe
that certain snakes milk cows, and that mermen are possible. I stood in
a tent last summer at Atlantic City--a large seaside resort--and watched
a line of middle-class people passing to see a "Chinese mermaid," of the
kind the Japanese manufacture so cleverly. It was to be seen on the
water. All, so far as I could judge, accepted it as real. So much for
the influence of the American public school, where physiology is taught.

CHAPTER VI

THE AMERICAN PRESS

One feature of American life is so peculiar that I fear I can not
present it to you clearly, as there is nothing like it under the sun. I
refer to the newspapers. If such an institution should appear in any
Oriental country, or even in Russia, many heads would fall to the ground
for treason or gross disrespect to the power of the throne. The American
must not only have the news of his neighbor, but the news of the world
every hour in the day, and the newspapers furnish it. In the villages
they appear weekly, in the towns daily, in the great cities hourly, boys
screaming their names, shouting and yelling like demons. Yesterday
beneath the window a boy screamed, "The Empress of China elopes with
her coachman!" I bought the paper, in which a column was devoted to it.
Fancy this in Pekin. Shades of ----! I can not better describe these
papers than to say they have absolute license as to what to print, this
freedom being a principle, but it is grossly abused by blackmailers. The
papers have no respect for man, woman, or child, the President or the
Deity. The most flagrant attacks are made upon private persons. Rarely
is an editor shot or imprisoned. The President may be called vile names,
his appearance may become the butt of ridicule in opposition papers, and
cartoonists, employed at large salaries, draw insulting pictures of him
and his Cabinet. One would think that the way to obtain patronage of a
person would be to praise him, but this would be considered an
orientalism. The real way to secure readers in America is to abuse,
insult, and outrage private feelings, the argument being that people
will buy the journal to