Causes of the Boxer Disturbances
The Washington correspondent of the Chicago Record tells the secret of present disturbances in China by the “Boxers,” as follows:— The Germans and the Belgians who are constructing railroads in the Shantung province have treated the natives in a most abominable manner, and have provoked the riots of which they now complain. That portion of China is one of the most densely populated sections of the earth, and the people have a desperate struggle for existence. Every inch of ground is cultivated; every straw and every sprig of vegetation is utilized in some way for the support of life. The country is divided into little farms, which are cultivated almost with a microscope, one might say, because it is necessary for the subsistence of some family; and the dead are buried in the gravel hills, where nothing can grow. Through this country and under these conditions, railways are being constructed by German and Belgian engineers, who show a most brutal indifference to the rights and the property of the people. They run their lines across the farms, they tear down houses, burn villages, destroy crops, seize supplies, impress labor, and treat the people in a most cruel and arbitrary manner. If the same things should occur in the United States or in Europe or in any other part of the world, they would be attended with the same results. The “boxers” were organized to resist and revenge these outrages, and they use the only means within their power to punish their oppressors. A Chinaman never gets any sympathy, either in America or elsewhere, and the consciousness of that fact compels him to carry on his operations with as great secrecy as possible. If the German and Belgian railroad people would treat the poor coolie farmers of the Shang-tung province in a just and honorable manner, and give them fair compensation for the property they have taken or destroyed, there would be no need of sending fleets to the Chinese waters, or of demanding indemnity at the Tsung-li-yamen.