have not sufficiently Westernized the course of study in their higher schools and they are not making any such intelligent systematic use of picked foreign scholars as Japan did for the first twenty or thirty years of her new era. Thirdly, Japan had the good fortune of possessing a native dynasty, the oldest on earth, which completely identified itself with the national welfare and put itself at the head of the reform movement. The Chinese are under an alien dynasty that does not identify itself with the national welfare, does not command the confidence of the people and seems more intent on maintaining the privileges and revenues of six million Manchus than on accelerating the progress of four hundred million Chinese. Fourthly, Japanese society formed a feudal hierarchy: at the apex the dynasty, then two hundred and fifty feudal lords, a million and a half of Samurai below them, and finally the thirty-six millions of common people. The makings of a procession were there, and when the people at the top faced West and said, "March!" the rest of the nation fell in behind. China evolved out of feudalism two thousand years ago and her society is altogether too democratic in its make-up to give any element the leverage that was enjoyed by the few thousand enlightened individuals who have controlled the transformation of Japan.

SOCIOLOGICAL APPRAISAL OF WESTERN INFLUENCE

IN THE ORIENT

EDWARD WARREN CAPEN
Boston, Mass.

It is not so many years since the countries of the Orient were practically isolated from the life and thought of the West. For centuries Japan was all but hermetically sealed against outside influence; the occasional diplomat and the trader, whose business was confined to a few points on the coast, were the only means of intercommunication between China and the Occident; while even in India foreign influence did not extend far inland. The result was that, comparatively speaking, the East deserved the epithet changeless.

Now all this has altered. Within a little more than a generation Japan has emerged from her position as a semi-mediaeval feudal country into a progressive power, which claims to be equal, if not superior, to the greatest western nations. China, Siam, and India have all been undergoing great social changes. In the case of every one of these countries, the initial impulse to change was western in its origin, often western in the agents who gave the impulse. Now the leadership is passing, or has passed, into the hands of the people themselves, but still it remains true that, directly or indirectly, western influence is at work in the Orient. Practically all the changes are being made in directions indicated by western experience, some of them because of their intrinsic worth, others in order to meet the competition and escape the domination of the West.

Before passing to our main task, that of appraising the sociological value of western influence, it will be wise to mention. first, a few of the points at which there was demand for changes in the interests of social welfare, and, secondly, the different classes of agents through whom the western influence has been exerted.

Under the first heading, we may specify eight points at which there was need of improvement:

1. Ignorance. In the old days, the majority of the people in most Asiatic countries were illiterate. Education was usually monopolized by some one class or by several classes, religious or social, and, with few exceptions, women were regarded as incapable of receiving an education. Added to the ignorance of illiteracy was that of a narrow provincialism. These people believed their civilization the highest in the world, and this resulted in the stagnation of pride. The countries themselves were divided by linguistic, racial, or religious barriers into sections between which there was little communication and no unity.

2. The low standard of living. The poverty of the Orient was something which had to be seen to be appreciated. As to degradation and individual suffering, it is probable that the slums of New York or London can furnish worse cases than any found in the Orient, but still the proportion of the population which was always on the verge of starvation, which was never well nourished, and which was satisfied with living conditions intolerable for our dumb animals, was appalling.

3. Economic inefficiency.—This low standard of living was inevitable because of the economic inefficiency of the oriental laborer. For patience, persistence, and endurance, many of the laborers of the Orient were unsurpassed, but their product was pitifully small. It is often said that the half-dozen or more servants whom a European family in India have to employ are less efficient than a single good servant in an American home. There was a similar inefficiency in many parts of the industrial sphere. There was, in many cases, great manual skill and even artistic ability, but the oriental tools were so rude that the product was small. Some of those in India have been characterized by an expert as a combination of ingenuity and stupidity.

4. The inferior status of woman.-Here, too, there were great variations, but in general woman was regarded by the oriental as distinctly inferior to man in ability and in character; she was often regarded as little more than a chattel; and was almost universally denied the privilege of education. Oftentimes

she was the victim of cruelty and lust, even in the name of religion. This did not mean that she was without influence, but it was that of a narrow, ignorant conservative. From her disabilities flowed serious consequences in family life.

5. The physical suffering due to ignorance of sanitation and medical science.-The burden of pain and premature death which came from this fact can hardly be exaggerated. Women suffered a living death, children and adults were incapacitated for any gainful occupation, and whole communities were decimated by pestilence because of the absence of sanitation, hygiene, and medicine.

6. The lack of individual responsibility and opportunity.— As a member of a family, guild, or caste, the individual had his own place and was cared for; as an individual he counted for little. The caste system of India made it next to impossible for a man to rise above the station into which he was born. China permitted the man of ability to rise, but the value put upon the ordinary individual was small.

7. The corruption and inefficiency of government.—This need not be dwelt upon further than to say that caprice often took the place of justice, in our sense of that term, that bribery, corruption, and insecurity of life and of property were at least common, if not nearly universal.

8. Lastly, the low ethical standards.—Here it is very easy to misrepresent the situation. Many observers have contrasted the worst side of oriental life with the best of occidental. By reversing this process, it would be possible to draw a similar indictment against our western civilization. There were different standards in different countries and in different classes, but it is no exaggeration to say that truthfulness and honesty generally did not hold the same place as with us. As to sins of lust, those in the West are contrary to our highest ethical standards, while in India the worst offenses were in the name of religion. I should hardly dare to describe what I know from personal observation and investigation.

There are noble aspects in oriental civilization, points at which we might wisely learn from them, but these must be passed

over. I have specified these weaknesses merely to indicate the task which the social reformer in the East, whether a citizen of the West or a son of the East, has assumed in order to increase the social welfare of the Orient.

Western influence, so far as it has been exerted by westerners, has come from the following classes:

1. Diplomatic and consular officers. Their influence, except as it has come from their example, has not been great.

2. Government officials, either those of the dominant government, as in British India, or as employees of the local government, as in Siam, China, and Japan.

3. Teachers, employed in secular schools maintained by local funds.

4. Representatives of western commerce and industry.

5. Missionaries, who, apart from their religious work, in the narrow meaning of that phrase, are exerting an important social influence, which was the special object of my investigations during two years of travel.

If there were time within the limits of this paper, it would be wise to ask and to answer for each of these classes of westerners and for the oriental social leaders four questions, relating (a) to their character, ability, and training for exerting a wise influence in the direction of social progress; (b) the correctness of the principles which lie back of their work; (c) the efficiency of the methods employed; and (d) the adequacy and permanency of the results so far achieved. This is impossible and we can only attempt a sociological appraisal of the value of some of the chief lines of social change produced by western influence, and then answer briefly these questions for what is by far the largest single class of westerners who are exerting such an influence, namely, the missionaries.

LINES OF SOCIAL PROGRESS

1. Education. The education which the Orient used to give to the favored few had little relation to modern life or thought and nothing which fitted for leadership in competition with the West. The missionary was the pioneer in introducing western