But whoever reads the whole poem will see the force of the
London Spectator's opinion that it is a ``satire of the American
selfishness which is the main strength of the cry against the
cheap labour of the Chinese,'' and that ``it would not be easy
for a moderately intelligent man to avoid seeing that Mr. Bret
Harte wished to delineate the Chinese simply as beating the
Yankee at his own evil game, and to delineate the Yankee as
not at all disposed to take offense at the ``cheap labour'' of his
Oriental rival, until he discovered that he could not cheat the
cheap labourer half so completely as the cheap labourer could
cheat him.''

It is common for people to praise the Japanese and to sneer
at the Chinese. All honour to the Japanese for their splendid
achievements. With marvellous celerity they have adopted
many modern ideas and inventions. They are worthy of the
respect they receive. But those who have made a close study
of both peoples unhesitatingly assert that the Chinese have
more solid elements of permanence and power. The Japanese
have the quickness, the enthusiasm, the intelligence of the
French; but the Chinese unite to equal intelligence the plodding
persistence of the Germans, and the old fable of the tortoise
and the hare is as true of nations as it is of individuals.
Unquestionably, the Chinese are the most virile race in Asia
``Wherever a Chinese can get a foot of ground and a quart of
water he will make something grow.'' Colquhoun quotes
Richthofen as saying that ``among the various races of
mankind, the Chinese is the only one which in all climates, the
hottest and the coldest, is capable of great and lasting activity.''
And he states as his own opinion: ``She has all the elements