Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/103

Rh remonstrance, the recalcitrant was to be dealt with as a father would treat a disobedient son. The rod has always been the chief instrument of enforcing discipline in the political household as well as the domestic household; and cases that will not submit to this primitive method of chastisement are visited with the guillotine.

The fact that no one could be found willing to undertake to put in force his method of conducting government is due to the strict conditions he sought to enforce. Rulers were accustomed to hold the people in check by force of arms, and subaltern petty officers were appointed by the crown and held their position by carrying out the desires of their creator. Confucius declared that political appointments in the civil service should be made on the basis of individual merit, rather than simply the standard of subservience to the dictation of the throne. He was the first advocate of civil-service reform, and his success in that line is not calculated to create very high hopes in those of our day who would substitute a similar test for office.

It is commonly understood in this country that China has long practiced competitive examinations of candidates for office. They do go through such a form, but it is a mere farce. For appointment to a position in the customs service, for example, the examination is conducted by testing the candidate in his proficiency with the bow and arrow, and by having recitations from memory of certain portions of the classics. The man who can hit the bull's-eye the greatest number of times in a given number of shots with the bow, and can recite the greatest number of pages from some book, of the meaning of which he may be utterly ignorant, is considered the best fitted for the position. It may be that they consider that a man who is skillful with the bow, and whose memory will absorb a long list of trite sayings in a book, will also be capable of acquiring useful knowledge in his chosen position in the civil or military service; but certainly the attainments tested are of no practical benefit in the work to be done. Running and jumping and other athletic attainments are also tested. This is more useful, especially in the military service, than the other tests appear to be. A good runner in the army may be an important foresight in the selection of soldiers or officers who are thus selected. China's experience in her recent wars with European armies has taught her the need of a fleet-footed soldiery to enable them to get out of the way of the enemy.

It is, of course, difficult to estimate what part the teachings of Confucianism have had in forming the national character of the Chinese. Some powerful influence must have been required to secure such a condition of contentment under such an arbitrary government to hold together in apparent submission to one