Page:James Hudson Maurer - The Far East (1912).pdf/47

 shops, navy yards, etc. Twenty thousand men are employed in connection with this huge enterprise, and they are all Chinese.

"Seventeen years ago I tramped across this same area, stumbling amid decayed coffins and wading through its dismal swamp. Today it accommodates the greatest commercial enterprise in all China, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive and the morning, noon and night ear-splitting 'buzzer' are playing havoc with ‘'Feng Shui' superstition while the gilded eaves and roofs of pagodas and temples are now begrimed by clouds of factory smoke.

"Under the personal direction of Mr. Yen, a foreign educated engineer, and highly honored by his government, I traversed from one end to the other of these colossal works, With pardonable pride he declared they were ready to supply pig iron and steel rails to America, or any other country, and his boast is being made good, for not long ago a shipload of pig iron from these works was disposed of at profitable prices in San Francisco.

"As I wandered through the up-to-date factories, whose 600 looms were busily humming night and day, I saw evidence of Chinese adaptability everywhere, and especially in the fact that most of the operators were children, boys and girls, ranging from 12 years upward.

"I protested that such a condition would not be permitted in America, and referred to our child labor prohibition laws. 'But,' replied my official guides, 'these factories have proven the greatest blessing to Wu-Chang, for by the employment of these children families have been saved from starvation, and the children wildly clamor for such employment.'

"And yet they receive but 10 cents per day. Combine this cheapness of labor with the willingness to learn and produce, and is it not probable that the real yellow peril lies in Chinese commercial competition?

"And what shall be said of China's marvelous railroad enterprises? It is but a few years ago that rails were torn up as fast as they were laid down, and rolling stock destroyed by an infuriated populace who feared the introduction of the foreign iron horse would disturb the spirits of their revered dead. Today there is no more popular public work than the construction of railroads. Trunk lines have been and are being laid down which shall connect the southern capital, Canton,