CHINA AND AMERICA

Said the Chinaman:

"In China this year the students went into politics for the first time. The cession of Shantung to Japan had stunned the country. A military clique controlled the government, and the people, without means of expression, waited.

"Suddenly the students of Peking University demonstrated. In the course of their demonstration they gave a beating to two or three statesmen who were suspected of favoring Japan. Their action sent a thrill through the country. A number of them were arrested and the city was practically put under martial law. The Chancellor of the University, a great liberal leader, resigned under pressure, and the students organized and made definite demands on the government.

"The people of China began to boycott Japanese goods. In the vacation period the students went out through the country urging the manufacture of those goods in China. Their suggestions found great support, and they made a number of new demands. The government granted nearly all of the demands, including the demand for a guarantee of free speech.

"The students have given the prestige of the militarist faction its first great blow; they have showed China the way she can follow in order to emancipate herself."

"It sounds fine," said an undergraduate; "self-sacrifice and all that. They started something like that down at Princeton, didn't they? But you know America is a free country. By the way," he added, "we're going to break up a meeting tonight. Come with us, won't you?

"Why should you break up a meeting?" asked the Chinaman.

"Oh," said the undergraduate, "we don't like the views of the people holding it."