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18.
political questions.
Practical measures to improve the condi-
tions of living are ore valuable to them then theories of
government. The Chinese are of course the most numerous. Given
any sort of opportunity the chinese merchant can give points and
a beating to most other traders. The Chinese farmer has quali-
ties of endurance that are unrivalled. The average
orean fa T'M-
er is also docile and hard-working. None of these elements,
therefore, presents any acute problem.
46. Cho Mongol who is by nature a nomad and impatient of
restraint requires more careful treatment but he lives almost
entirely in the west which has been divided into new provinces
in the administration of which a certain proportion of ongols
is employed. The Mongol, however, shows few signs of adapting
himself to modern conditions. Fifty years ago Inner Mongolia
reached to within a few miles of the present Harbin and Hainking.
Since then the political frontier has receded two or three hun-
dred miles under the peaceful penetration of the Chinese settler.
This year the princes who still enjoyed vestiges of their form-
er feudal powers have handed over their lands to the government
in return for bonds the intereat on which will be paid them
annually. No doubt these lands will be settled end brought
under more intensive cultivation.
47. The main role of the Japanese, apart from officials,
is big scale manufacturing and trading for which their restless
energy well fits them. There is room then for all and so long
as the individual Japanese refrain from provocative conduct,
the racial dislike that undoubtedly exists need not be brought
to the surface.
48.
Friction there is bound to be. The higher Japanese
civil officer has a strong sense of duty and takes a pride in
the efficient working of his department. The lower official is
on the whole equally zealous but the less important his office
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