m such sources,
hardly command respect.

It is plain that this greedy exploitation, going so far as even to snatch
a profit out of the opium struggle, is not a healthy basis of intercourse
between great nations. If the Chinese were a Congo tribe, or a race of
American Indians, this policy might pay commercially; for in that case it
would be a matter for the Christian nations of simply killing off the
Chinese or driving them off the land, and then of fighting among
themselves over the division of the spoils. But this policy, which
succeeds against weak and numerically small nations, will hardly succeed
in China. Driving four hundred million Chinese off the land would be a
large order, a very different thing, indeed, from wiping out a tribe of
"Fuzzy Wuzzys" with machine guns. All of the military observers with whom
I have talked in China show a tendency to grow thoughtful over the subject
of China's potential military strength. From the days of the T'ai Ping
Rebellion and "Chinese" Gordon's "ever victorious" army, down to the
review of 30,000 of Yuan Shi K'ai's troops, with modern weapons and modern
drill, in Honan Province in the summer of 1906, it has been plain that the
Chinese make splendid soldiers when properly led. And yet it seems to have
occurred to few white statesmen that the deepest interests of trade
itself, sordid trade, demand that China be treated fairly and that the
relations between China and the powers be established on a basis that
makes for mutual respect and for peace, rather than on a basis that makes
for exploitation, outrage, massacre, warfare, "indemnity," and smouldering
hate. John Hay saw over the balance-sheet, when he established the "open
door" policy. Elihu Root has seen over the balance-sheet in arranging to
waive the future claims of this country for indemnity money. And Lord
Elgin, for England, saw over the balance-sheet when he outlined that sound
policy which he was afterwards one of the first to violate--"Never to make
an unjust demand of China, and never to recede from a demand once made."
To-day it seems apparent that the great nations cannot be brought together
to agree on any really enlightened policy in China. Even had such a thing
been possible a few years ago, the untrustworthy methods of Russia and the
growing ambitions of Japan would make it impossible to-day. Nations which,
when brought together in a "Peace Conference," cannot even agree upon the
rules of war, will hardly fo