men, were on the
floor. And behind the bar, yawning, waiting for an opportunity to close up
and go to sleep, stood two Chinese men and one boy. They were neat,
respectful, and perfectly sober. Their almond eyes flitted about the room,
taking in every detail of that beastly scene. It would be impossible to
say what they were thinking, but I observed that they did not smile as a
Chinaman usually does. Perhaps, to the reader who does not know the China
Coast, it seems unfair to cite this case as an example of the active
influence of our civilization in China. I will not do so. I will merely
ask if you could ever hope to make those three young Chinamen believe that
our civilization is superior to theirs.

Where such a low moral tone prevails, in a self-governing community, it is
bound to limit the perception and the power of the government of that
community. Let any observing visitor acquaint himself with Shanghai and
its social and moral standards (which will not be difficult, for these
will be thrust upon him soon after his arrival) and he will soon see for
himself that the residents of Shanghai, while they freely and hotly
criticize their council, never accuse it of priggishness or of moral
restraint. This is enough to show that the council makes no effort to
oppose the prevailing sentiment. The gambling business attains, in
Shanghai, to the altitude of a considerable industry. During the race
weeks, spring and fall, the vacant lots near the race-track are rented at
high rates by those gamblers of all nations who have no regular quarters,
and the games go on merrily in the open air, within full view of the
crowds in the road. Now seven of the nine members of the council are
Englishmen. English ideas are supposed to prevail in the settlement,
feebly seconded by German and American. And the laws under which Shanghai
is theoretically governed forbid gambling.

All the lower forms of organized vice combine to form a large and highly
profitable branch of Shanghai's commerce. Partly because of the
willingness of the locally stronger nations to shoulder off the
responsibility for a disgraceful state of things, and partly because of
the number of adventurous and unprincipled Americans who have drained off
to the China Coast, America has had to endure more than her share of the
blame for this condition. For years every degraded woman who could speak
the language has called herself an "American girl"; until the term, which
at hom