s allusion to his porridge, he burst into a eulogy
of America, such as it did our hearts good to hear. In his mind there
was absolutely no question that China should trust herself to America,
enter the war on the side of America. No other nation in the world, he
said, had such great ideals, and so thoroughly lived up to them.
Wilson's Mexican policy filled him with enthusiasm; he spoke of it at
length, almost with tears in his eyes. Next he touched on our Philippine
possessions. Our record in the Philippines is an example to the world.
No exploitation of a helpless people but a noble constructive policy to
educate them, develop them, and, finally, bring them to a point where
they could exercise their own sovereignty. The first thing we did, he
reminded us, on taking possession of the Philippines, was to throw out
opium. It was at that time a drug-sodden country, but our first act was
to banish the traffic, root and branch.

It was also America, he went on, which had given China moral support
and active backing in her ten-years' struggle against the drug. We had
called together the Opium Conference at Shanghai, and later the Hague
International Opium Conference, and owing to the publicity gained
through these conferences China had had the courage to demand the
opportunity to eradicate the curse. On and on he went, and it was
good hearing. He would use his influence, and it was great, to
induce China to accept America's invitation and enter the war on the
side of the Allies.

It made one rather humble to hear him. China will place her fate and her
fortunes so implicitly in our hands. It will be a great responsibility
for us to meet. Do you think we can do so?

VIII

FROM A SCRAP-BOOK

This isn't a letter. I shall take a bunch of old newspapers and with
scissors and paste-pot, stick upon this sheet of paper such press
comments as seem relevant to the situation. First of all, remember that
China has a population of four hundred million people, of whom three
hundred and ninety-nine million have never heard of the European war.
But the opinion of the million that may have heard of it is of no
moment. The few people it is necessary to convert to a sympathetic
understanding of the European war are the handful of officials
composing the Cabinet, about two hundred members of Parliament, and a
small, outlying fringe of "officials in waiting" and other odds and
ends, generals and such like. Once convince them, and the