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1. A computer program is a sequence of:
1. ones and zeroes.
2. instructions and decisions.
3. primary and secondary storage.
4. processors and compilers.

Title
What is a computer program?
type
mc
Section
1.1 Computer Programs
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-01

2. Computers are machines that:


1. are imprecise and slow.
2. design computer programs.
3. execute programs.
4. carry out a very narrow range of tasks.

Title
What is a computer?
type
mc
Section
1.1 Computer Programs
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-02

3. Which of the following refers to a collection of programs that a computer executes?


1. Compiler
2. Software
3. Instructions
4. Source Code

Title
What term refers to a collection of programs?
type
mc
Section
1.1 Computer Programs
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-03
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-03

4. Which parts of the computer store program code?


1. CPU
2. Secondary storage
3. Monitor
4. Keyboard

Title
Which parts of the computer store program code?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-04

5. Which of the following items is NOT considered hardware:


1. a keyboard.
2. a speaker.
3. a program.
4. a microphone.

Title
What is considered hardware
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-05

6. The Central Processing Unit is primarily responsible for:


1. ensuring data persists when electrical power is turned off.
2. enabling a human user to interact with the computer.
3. interconnecting computers that are separated by distance.
4. performing program control and data processing.

Title
What is a CPU?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-06

7. Computers store both data and programs not currently running in:
1. Primary storage.
2. Central processing unit.
3. Secondary storage.
4. Transistors.

Title
Where are programs and data stored?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-07

8. Which of the following hardware devices is NOT considered an input device?


1. Keyboard
2. Monitor
3. Mouse
4. Microphone

Title
What is considered input hardware?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-08

9. Which of the following hardware devices is NOT considered an output device?


1. Speaker
2. Monitor
3. Printer
4. Microphone

Title
What is considered output hardware?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-09

10. When the computer begins to run a program,


1. the program is moved from secondary storage to memory.
2. the program is moved from secondary storage to the network controller.
3. the program is moved from the CPU to memory.
4. the program is moved from the CPU to secondary storage.

Title
What happens when a program begins to run?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-10
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-10

11. What part of the computer carries out arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division?
1. CPU
2. Network
3. Primary storage
4. Secondary storage

Title
What part of the computer performs arithmetic?
type
mc
Section
1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-11
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-11

12. High-level programming languages were created to:


1. Allow programmers to describe the solution to a problem one CPU instruction at
a time
2. Make programming less error-prone and less tedious
3. Maximize the running time of programs
4. Translate CPU instructions into high-level instructions
Title
Why were high-level programming languages created?
type
mc
Section
1.3 The Python Programming Language
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-12
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-12

13. What are two of the most important benefits of the Python language?
1. Advanced mathematical equations and fast programs
2. Ease of use and fast programs
3. Ease of use and portability
4. Fast programs and smaller programs

Title
What are the benefits of Python?
type
mc
Section
1.3 The Python Programming Language
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-13
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-13

14. What is wrong with the following code snippet:


15. num1 = 10
16. num2 = 20
17. num3 = 30
total = Num1 + Num2 + Num3

1. Nothing, the variable total will be the sum of the three numbers
2. Python is case sensitive so Num1, Num2, and Num3 are undefined
3. total must be initialized to zero first
4. The numbers should be 10.0, 20.0 and 30.0

Title
What is wrong with the following code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-14
18. An integrated development environment bundles tools for programming into a unified
application. What kinds of tools are usually included?
1. A web browser
2. An editor and an interpreter
3. Presentation tools
4. Source files and bytecode files

Title
What kind of tools can be found in an integrated development environment?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-15
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-15

19. What is the difference between an editor and an interpreter?


1. An editor allows program files to be entered and modified; an interpreter reads
and executes program files
2. An editor allows program files to be entered and modified; an interpreter produces
an indexed database of terms and keywords
3. An editor allows program files to be entered and modified; an interpreter produces
an organized list of files
4. An editor converts program files into an executable program; an interpreter allows
program files to be entered and modified

Title
What is the difference between an editor and a compiler?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-16

20. What reads Python programs and executes the program instructions?
1. editor
2. CPU
3. compiler
4. interpreter

Title
What is used to execute a Python program?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-17

21. What extension is used for Python files?


1. .Python
2. .py
3. .dat
4. .txt

Title
What extension is used for Python source files?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-18

22. By entering the command python3, the program runs in which mode?
1. interactive mode
2. print mode
3. command mode
4. backup mode

Title
What mode is invoked when the user enters "python" at the command prompt?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-19

23. The Python compiler reads the file containing your source code and converts it to:
1. machine code
2. assembly code
3. byte code
4. virtual machine code

Title
What type of code is created by the Python compiler?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-20

24. What is the correct sequence of steps invoked by the Python Interpreter:
1. source code -> virtual machine -> byte code ->compiler
2. source code -> compiler -> byte code -> virtual machine
3. compiler -> source code -> virtual machine -> byte code
4. byte code -> virtual machine -> source code ->compiler

Title
What is the role of the Interpreter?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-21

25. Which line in the following program is a comment line?


26. 1: print("Your lucky number is...")
27. 2: lucky = 7
28. 3: # Display the lucky number
29. 4: print(lucky)
1. Line number 1
2. Line number 2
3. Line number 3
4. Line number 4

Title
What is the syntax for a comment line?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-22
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-22

30. What is the purpose of a comment?


1. A comment provides information to the virtual machine
2. A comment provides information to the compiler
3. A comment provides information to the programmer
4. A comment provides information to the user running the program
Title
What is the purpose of a comment?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-23
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-23

31. A collection of programming instructions that carry out a particular task is called a:
1. program
2. compiler
3. function
4. comment

Title
What is a collection of programming instructions called?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-24

32. To use or call a function, you need to specify:


1. the function name and its arguments
2. the function name only
3. the function name and at least one argument
4. the function name and a comment describing its use

Title
How do you call a function?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-25

33. A sequence of characters enclosed in quotes is called:


1. a string
2. a list
3. a function
4. an argument
Title
What is a sequence of characters enclosed in quotes called?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-26

34. Which of the following is considered a string in Python?


1. Today is Wednesday
2. "Today is Wednesday"
3. # Today is Wednesday #
4. Today_is_Wednesday

Title
What is a string in Python?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-27

35. What is wrong with the following code snippet?


36. print("Hello")
print("World!")

1. The print function cannot be called twice


2. The print function is missing an argument
3. Nothing, the program prints Hello World on the same line
4. The second line should not be indented

Title
What is wrong with the code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-28

37. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print(25 + 84)

1. 2584
2. 109
3. 25 + 84
4. Nothing, this code snipped causes a compile time error

Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-29

38. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print("The answer is", 25 + 84)

1. The answer is 2584


2. The answer is 109
3. The answer is 25 + 84
4. Nothing, this code snipped causes a compile time error

Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-30

39. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print("The answers are:", 4 + 3 * 2, 7 * 5 - 24)

1. The answers are: 10 11


2. The answers are: 14 11
3. The answers are: 24 10
4. Nothing, this code snipped causes a compile time error

Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-31

40. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print("25 + 84")

1. 2584
2. 109
3. 25 + 84
4. Nothing, this code snipped causes a compile time error

Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-32

41. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print(Hello)

1. Nothing, an error is produced indicating that Hello is not defined


2. Hello
3. 'Hello'
4. "Hello"

Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-33

42. What is printed by the following code snippet?

print("Good", "Morning", "Class", "!")

1. GoodMorningClass!
2. Good Morning Class!
3. Good Morning Class !
4. nothing, this code produces a syntax error
Title
What is printed by a given code snippet?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-34

43. What is another name for a compile-time error?


1. Logic error
2. Semantic error
3. Syntax error
4. Lexicographic error

Title
What is another name for a compile-time error?
type
mc
Section
1.6 Errors
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-35

44. Although the following code statement is valid, print(10/0), what will happen when
this code is executed?
1. The program prints 0
2. The error message ZeroDivisionError: int division or modulo by zero
is displayed
3. The program runs, but nothing is printed
4. The error message SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

Title
What is another name for a compile-time error?
type
mc
Section
1.6 Errors
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-36

45. The programmer, not the compiler, is responsible for testing a program to identify what?
1. Undefined symbols
2. Syntax errors
3. Logic errors
4. Out-of-memory errors
Title
The programmer, not the compiler, is responsible for testing a program to identify?
type
mc
Section
1.6 Errors
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-37

46. What is it called when you describe the steps that are necessary for finding a solution to a
problem in programming?
1. algorithm
2. compile
3. interpret
4. code

Title
What is it called when you describe the steps that are necessary for finding a solution to a
problem in programming?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-38

47. The following pseudocode calculates the total purchase price for an item including sales
tax, what is the missing last line?
48. Start by setting the total cost to zero.
49. Ask the user for the item cost.
50. Ask the user for the tax rate.
51. Set the item tax to item cost times tax rate.
_________________________________

1. Set the total cost to the item cost plus the tax rate.
2. Set the total cost to the item cost times the tax.
3. Set the total cost to the item cost plus the tax.
4. Set the total cost to the item tax.

Title
What is the missing pseudocode?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-39
52. What is the purpose of the following algorithm, written in pseudocode?
53. num = 0
54. Repeat the following steps 15 times
55. Ask user for next number
56. If userNum > num
57. num = userNum
58. Print num
1. To print out the 15 numbers
2. To find the smallest among 15 numbers
3. To search for a particular number among 15 numbers
4. To find the highest among 15 numbers

Title
What is the purpose of this algorithm?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-40

59. Which of the following is NOT an example of an algorithm?


1. A recipe to make chocolate chip cookies
2. A grocery list
3. Instructions for changing a flat tire
4. Steps required to calculate the amount of paint required to paint a room

Title
Which of the following is NOT an example of an algorithm?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-41

60. Which of the following pseudocode statements represents a decision?


1. For each number in a sequence...
2. While the balance is > 0
3. total cost = unit cost + tax
4. if total cost > 15

Title
Which of the following pseudocode statements represents a decision statement?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-42

61. Which of the following pseudocode statements represents a repetition statement?


1. if total cost > 15
2. set i equal to 3
3. total cost = unit cost + tax
4. while the balance is > 0

Title
Which of the following pseudocode statements represents a repetition statement?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-43
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-43

62. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?


1. Pseudocode should be unambiguous.
2. Pseudocode should be executable.
3. Pseudocode should be properly formatted.
4. Pseudocode should be terminating.

Title
Which of the following is NOT important when writing pseudocode?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-44
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-44

63. Imagine that you are planning to buy a new cell phone. After doing some research, you
have determined that there are two different cell phones that will meet your needs. These
cell phones have different purchase prices and each mobile service provider charges a
different rate for each minute that the cell phone is used. In order to determine which cell
phone is the better buy, you need to develop an algorithm to calculate the total cost of
purchasing and using each cell phone. Which of the following options lists all the inputs
needed for this algorithm?
1. The cost of each cell phone and the rate per minute for each cell phone
2. The cost of each cell phone and the number of minutes provided with each cell
phone
3. The cost of each cell phone, the rate per minute for each cell phone, and the
number of minutes provided with each cell phone
4. The cost of each cell phone, the rate per minute for each cell phone, and the
number of minutes you would use the cell phone

Title
Which inputs do you need to calculate cost of purchasing/using cell phone?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-45
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-45

64. In order to run Python programs, the computer needs to have software called a(n)?
1. debugger
2. interpreter
3. windows
4. assembler

Title
Software needed to run Python on a computer?
type
mc
Section
1.3 The Python Programming Language
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-46

65. A Python interpreter is:


1. a folder hierarchy
2. a piece of hardware
3. a piece of software
4. a type of secondary storage

Title
What is a Python virtual machine?
type
mc
Section
1.4 Becoming Familiar with Your Programming Environment
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-47
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-47

66. Consider the following pseudocode. What does it produce?


67. Create a list of consecutive integers from two to n (2, 3, 4, ..., n).
68. Initially, let p equal 2.
69. Repeat the following steps until p is greater than n:
70. Remove all of the multiples of p less than or equal to n from the
list.
71. If the list contains a number greater than p
72. Find the first number remaining in the list greater than p.
73. Replace p with this number.
74. Otherwise set p equal to n + 1
1. All even numbers up to n
2. All factorial numbers up to n
3. All odd numbers up to n
4. All prime numbers up to n

Title
Software needed to run Python on a computer?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-48
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-48

75. Consider the following pseudocode. What does it produce?


76. Set a = 0
77. Set b = 0
78. Set c = 1
79. Set d = 1
80. Report the value of d
81. Repeat until a equals 10
82. Set d = b + c
83. Set b = c
84. Set c = d
85. Add 1 to a
86. Report the value of d
1. 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89
2. 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
3. 1 1 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Title
What does this algorithm produce?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-2-ch01-49
from
testbank-py-1-ch01-49

87. A sequence of steps that is unambiguous, executable, and terminating is called:


1. a logarithm
2. a programming task
3. an algorithm
4. pseudocode

Title
What is a list of steps that are unambiguous, executable, and terminating called?
type
mc
Section
1.7 Problem Solving: Algorithm Design
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-50

88. Which of the follow statements is most correct?


1. Computer programs are comprised of a large number of simple instructions.
2. Computer programs are comprised of a large number of sophisticated instructions.
3. Computer programs are comprised of a small number of simple instructions.
4. Computer programs are comprised of a small number of sophisticated
instructions.

Title
What are computer programs comprised of?
type
mc
Section
1.1 Computer Programs
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-51

89. Which of the following is not a benefit of the Python programming language compared
to other popular programming languages like Java, C and C++?
1. Python encourages experimentation and rapid turn around
2. Python has a cleaner syntax
3. Python is easier to use
4. Python programs run more quickly
Title
What are the benefits of Python compared to other programming languages?
type
mc
Section
1.3 The Python Programming Language
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-52

90. Which of the following code segments will display Hello World! when it is run?
1. print(Hello "," World"!")
2. print("Hello", "World!")
3. print("Hello", "World", "!")
4. print("Hello", ",", "World", "!")

Title
Which code segment displays the desired result?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-53

91. When a function is called, the values placed in parentheses are referred to as:
1. arguments
2. keywords
3. operators
4. statements

Title
What are the parts of a function call?
type
mc
Section
1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-54

92. Which type of error is usually the most difficult to locate in your program?
1. Indentation Error
2. Logic Error
3. Syntax Error
4. Zero Division Error

Title
Which type of error is most difficult to locate?
type
mc
Section
1.6 Errors
id
testbank-py-1-ch01-55
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
justified it with those words, I should have shuddered, I know. Or, if I
had done the thing and said the words myself--However, the thought
is unthinkable, irreverent as some imperfectly informed people think
me. Sometimes an ordained minister sets out to be blasphemous.
When this happens, the layman is out of the running; he stands no
chance.
We have Mr. Ament’s impassioned assurance that the
missionaries are not “vindictive.” Let us hope and pray that they will
never become so, but will remain in the almost morbidly fair and just
and gentle temper which is affording so much satisfaction to their
brother and champion to-day.
The following is from the New York Tribune of Christmas Eve. It
comes from that journal’s Tokyo correspondent. It has a strange and
impudent sound, but the Japanese are but partially civilized as yet.
When they become wholly civilized they will not talk so:

The missionary question, of course, occupies a foremost place in


the discussion. It is now felt as essential that the Western Powers
take cognizance of the sentiment here, that religious invasions of
Oriental countries by powerful Western organizations are tantamount
to filibustering expeditions, and should not only be discountenanced,
but that stern measures should be adopted for their suppression.
The feeling here is that the missionary organizations constitute a
constant menace to peaceful international relations.

Shall we? That is, shall we go on conferring our Civilization upon


the peoples that sit in darkness, or shall we give those poor things a
rest? Shall we bang right ahead in our old-time, loud, pious way, and
commit the new century to the game; or shall we sober up and sit
down and think it over first? Would it not be prudent to get our
Civilization tools together, and see how much stock is left on hand in
the way of Glass Beads and Theology, and Maxim Guns and Hymn
Books, and Trade Gin and Torches of Progress and Enlightenment
(patent adjustable ones, good to fire villages with, upon occasion),
and balance the books, and arrive at the profit and loss, so that we
may intelligently decide whether to continue the business or sell out
the property and start a new Civilization Scheme on the proceeds?
Extending the Blessings of Civilization to our Brother who Sits in
Darkness has been a good trade and has paid well, on the whole;
and there is money in it yet, if carefully worked--but not enough, in
my judgment, to make any considerable risk advisable. The People
that Sit in Darkness are getting to be too scarce--too scarce and too
shy. And such darkness as is now left is really of but an indifferent
quality, and not dark enough for the game. The most of those People
that Sit in Darkness have been furnished with more light than was
good for them or profitable for us. We have been injudicious.
The Blessings-of-Civilization Trust, wisely and cautiously
administered, is a Daisy. There is more money in it, more territory,
more sovereignty, and other kinds of emolument, than there is in any
other game that is played. But Christendom has been playing it badly
of late years, and must certainly suffer by it, in my opinion. She has
been so eager to get every stake that appeared on the green cloth,
that the People who Sit in Darkness have noticed it--they have
noticed it, and have begun to show alarm. They have become
suspicious of the Blessings of Civilization. More--they have begun to
examine them. This is not well. The Blessings of Civilization are all
right, and a good commercial property; there could not be a better, in
a dim light. In the right kind of a light, and at a proper distance, with
the goods a little out of focus, they furnish this desirable exhibit to
the Gentlemen who Sit in Darkness:
Love, Law and Order,
Justice, Liberty,
Gentleness, Equality,
Christianity, Honorable Dealing,
Protection to the Mercy,
Weak,
Temperance, Education,
--and so on.
There. Is it good? Sir, it is pie. It will bring into camp any idiot that
sits in darkness anywhere. But not if we adulterate it. It is proper to
be emphatic upon that point. This brand is strictly for Export--
apparently. Apparently. Privately and confidentially, it is nothing of
the kind. Privately and confidentially, it is merely an outside cover,
gay and pretty and attractive, displaying the special patterns of our
Civilization which we reserve for Home Consumption, while inside
the bale is the Actual Thing that the Customer Sitting in Darkness
buys with his blood and tears and land and liberty. That Actual Thing
is, indeed, Civilization, but it is only for Export. Is there a difference
between the two brands? In some of the details, yes.
We all know that the Business is being ruined. The reason is not
far to seek. It is because our Mr. McKinley, and Mr. Chamberlain,
and the Kaiser, and the Tsar and the French have been exporting the
Actual Thing with the outside cover left off. This is bad for the Game.
It shows that these new players of it are not sufficiently acquainted
with it.
It is a distress to look on and note the mismoves, they are so
strange and so awkward. Mr. Chamberlain manufactures a war out
of materials so inadequate and so fanciful that they make the boxes
grieve and the gallery laugh, and he tries hard to persuade himself
that it isn’t purely a private raid for cash, but has a sort of dim, vague
respectability about it somewhere, if he could only find the spot; and
that, by and by, he can scour the flag clean again after he has
finished dragging it through the mud, and make it shine and flash in
the vault of heaven once more as it had shone and flashed there a
thousand years in the world’s respect until he laid his unfaithful hand
upon it. It is bad play--bad. For it exposes the Actual Thing to Them
that Sit in Darkness, and they say: “What! Christian against
Christian? And only for money? Is this a case of magnanimity,
forbearance, love, gentleness, mercy, protection of the weak--this
strange and overshowy onslaught of an elephant upon a nest of field
mice, on the pretext that the mice had squeaked an insolence at
him--conduct which “no self-respecting government could allow to
pass unavenged”? as Mr. Chamberlain said. Was that a good pretext
in a small case, when it had not been a good pretext in a large one?-
-for only recently Russia had affronted the elephant three times and
survived alive and unsmitten. Is this Civilization and Progress? Is it
something better than we already possess? These harryings and
burnings and desert-makings in the Transvaal--is this an
improvement on our darkness? Is it, perhaps, possible that there are
two kinds of Civilization--one for home consumption and one for the
heathen market?”
Then They that Sit in Darkness are troubled, and shake their
heads; and they read this extract from a letter of a British private,
recounting his exploits in one of Methuen’s victories, some days
before the affair of Magersfontein, and they are troubled again:

We tore up the hill and into the intrenchments, and the Boers saw
we had them; so they dropped their guns and went down on their
knees and put up their hands clasped, and begged for mercy. And
we gave it them--with the long spoon.

The long spoon is the bayonet. See Lloyd’s Weekly, London, of


those days. The same number--and the same column--contained
some quite unconscious satire in the form of shocked and bitter
upbraidings of the Boers for their brutalities and inhumanities!
Next, to our heavy damage, the Kaiser went to playing the game
without first mastering it. He lost a couple of missionaries in a riot in
Shantung, and in his account he made an overcharge for them.
China had to pay a hundred thousand dollars apiece for them, in
money; twelve miles of territory, containing several millions of
inhabitants and worth twenty million dollars; and to build a
monument, and also a Christian church; whereas the people of
China could have been depended upon to remember the
missionaries without the help of these expensive memorials. This
was all bad play. Bad, because it would not, and could not, and will
not now or ever, deceive the Person Sitting in Darkness. He knows
that it was an overcharge. He knows that a missionary is like any
other man: he is worth merely what you can supply his place for, and
no more. He is useful, but so is a doctor, so is a sheriff, so is an
editor; but a just Emperor does not charge war prices for such. A
diligent, intelligent, but obscure missionary, and a diligent, intelligent
country editor are worth much, and we know it; but they are not
worth the earth. We esteem such an editor, and we are sorry to see
him go; but, when he goes, we should consider twelve miles of
territory, and a church, and a fortune, overcompensation for his loss.
I mean, if he was a Chinese editor, and we had to settle for him. It is
no proper figure for an editor or a missionary; one can get shop-worn
kings for less. It was bad play on the Kaiser’s part. It got this
property, true; but it produced the Chinese revolt, the indignant
uprising of China’s traduced patriots, the Boxers. The results have
been expensive to Germany, and to the other Disseminators of
Progress and the Blessings of Civilization.
The Kaiser’s claim was paid, yet it was bad play, for it could not fail
to have an evil effect upon Persons Sitting in Darkness in China.
They would muse upon the event, and be likely to say: “Civilization is
gracious and beautiful, for such is its reputation; but can we afford it?
There are rich Chinamen, perhaps they can afford it; but this tax is
not laid upon them, it is laid upon the peasants of Shantung; it is they
that must pay this mighty sum, and their wages are but four cents a
day. Is this a better civilization than ours, and holier and higher and
nobler? Is not this rapacity? Is not this extortion? Would Germany
charge America two hundred thousand dollars for two missionaries,
and shake the mailed fist in her face, and send warships, and send
soldiers, and say: ‘Seize twelve miles of territory, worth twenty
millions of dollars, as additional pay for the missionaries; and make
those peasants build a monument to the missionaries, and a costly
Christian church to remember them by?’ And later would Germany
say to her soldiers: ‘March through America and slay, giving no
quarter; make the German face there, as has been our Hun-face
here, a terror for a thousand years; march through the Great
Republic and slay, slay, slay, carving a road for our offended religion
through its heart and bowels?’ Would Germany do like this to
America, to England, to France, to Russia? Or only to China, the
helpless--imitating the elephant’s assault upon the field mice? Had
we better invest in this Civilization--this Civilization which called
Napoleon a buccaneer for carrying off Venice’s bronze horses, but
which steals our ancient astronomical instruments from our walls,
and goes looting like common bandits--that is, all the alien soldiers
except America’s; and (Americans again excepted) storms
frightened villages and cables the result to glad journals at home
every day: ‘Chinese losses, 450 killed; ours, one officer and two men
wounded. Shall proceed against neighboring village to-morrow,
where a massacre is reported.’ Can we afford Civilization?”
And next Russia must go and play the game injudiciously. She
affronts England once or twice--with the Person Sitting in Darkness
observing and noting; by moral assistance of France and Germany,
she robs Japan of her hard-earned spoil, all swimming in Chinese
blood--Port Arthur--with the Person again observing and noting; then
she seizes Manchuria, raids its villages, and chokes its great river
with the swollen corpses of countless massacred peasants--that
astonished Person still observing and noting. And perhaps he is
saying to himself: “It is yet another Civilized Power, with its banner of
the Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot basket and its butcher
knife in the other. Is there no salvation for us but to adopt Civilization
and lift ourselves down to its level?”
And by and by comes America, and our Master of the Game plays
it badly--plays it as Mr. Chamberlain was playing it in South Africa. It
was a mistake to do that; also, it was one which was quite unlooked
for in a Master who was playing it so well in Cuba. In Cuba, he was
playing the usual and regular American game, and it was winning,
for there is no way to beat it. The Master, contemplating Cuba, said:
“Here is an oppressed and friendless little nation which is willing to
fight to be free; we go partners, and put up the strength of seventy
million sympathizers and the resources of the United States: play!”
Nothing but Europe combined could call that hand: and Europe
cannot combine on anything. There, in Cuba, he was following our
great traditions in a way which made us very proud of him, and
proud of the deep dissatisfaction which his play was provoking in
continental Europe. Moved by a high inspiration, he threw out those
stirring words which proclaimed that forcible annexation would be
“criminal aggression”; and in that utterance fired another “shot heard
round the world.” The memory of that fine saying will be outlived by
the remembrance of no act of his but one--that he forgot it within the
twelvemonth, and its honorable gospel along with it.
For, presently, came the Philippine temptation. It was strong; it
was too strong, and he made that bad mistake: he played the
European game, the Chamberlain game. It was a pity; it was a great
pity, that error; that one grievous error, that irrevocable error. For it
was the very place and time to play the American game again. And
at no cost. Rich winnings to be gathered in, too; rich and permanent;
indestructible; a fortune transmissible forever to the children of the
flag. Not land, not money, not dominion--no, something worth many
times more than that dross: our share, the spectacle of a nation of
long harassed and persecuted slaves set free through our influence;
our posterity’s share, the golden memory of that fair deed. The game
was in our hands. If it had been played according to the American
rules, Dewey would have sailed away from Manila as soon as he
had destroyed the Spanish fleet--after putting up a sign on shore
guaranteeing foreign property and life against damage by the
Filipinos, and warning the Powers that interference with the
emancipated patriots would be regarded as an act unfriendly to the
United States. The Powers cannot combine, in even a bad cause,
and the sign would not have been molested.
Dewey could have gone about his affairs elsewhere, and left the
competent Filipino army to starve out the little Spanish garrison and
send it home, and the Filipino citizens to set up the form of
government they might prefer, and deal with the friars and their
doubtful acquisitions according to Filipino ideas of fairness and
justice--ideas which have since been tested and found to be of as
high an order as any that prevail in Europe or America.
But we played the Chamberlain game, and lost the chance to add
another Cuba and another honorable deed to our good record.
The more we examine the mistake, the more clearly we perceive
that it is going to be bad for the Business. The Person Sitting in
Darkness is almost sure to say: “There is something curious about
this--curious and unaccountable. There must be two Americas: one
that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive’s new
freedom away from him, and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to
found it on; then kills him to get his land.”
The truth is, the Person Sitting in Darkness is saying things like
that; and for the sake of the Business we must persuade him to look
at the Philippine matter in another and healthier way. We must
arrange his opinions for him. I believe it can be done; for Mr.
Chamberlain has arranged England’s opinion of the South African
matter, and done it most cleverly and successfully. He presented the
facts--some of the facts--and showed those confiding people what
the facts meant. He did it statistically, which is a good way. He used
the formula: “Twice 2 are 14, and 2 from 9 leaves 35.” Figures are
effective; figures will convince the elect.
Now, my plan is a still bolder one than Mr. Chamberlain’s, though
apparently a copy of it. Let us be franker than Mr. Chamberlain; let
us audaciously present the whole of the facts, shirking none, then
explain them according to Mr. Chamberlain’s formula. This daring
truthfulness will astonish and dazzle the Person Sitting in Darkness,
and he will take the Explanation down before his mental vision has
had time to get back into focus. Let us say to him:
“Our case is simple. On the 1st of May, Dewey destroyed the
Spanish fleet. This left the Archipelago in the hands of its proper and
rightful owners, the Filipino nation. Their army numbered 30,000
men, and they were competent to whip out or starve out the little
Spanish garrison; then the people could set up a government of their
own devising. Our traditions required that Dewey should now set up
his warning sign, and go away. But the Master of the Game
happened to think of another plan--the European plan. He acted
upon it. This was, to send out an army--ostensibly to help the native
patriots put the finishing touch upon their long and plucky struggle for
independence, but really to take their land away from them and keep
it. That is, in the interest of Progress and Civilization. The plan
developed, stage by stage, and quite satisfactorily. We entered into a
military alliance with the trusting Filipinos, and they hemmed in
Manila on the land side, and by their valuable help the place, with its
garrison of 8,000 or 10,000 Spaniards, was captured--a thing which
we could not have accomplished unaided at that time. We got their
help by--by ingenuity. We knew they were fighting for their
independence, and that they had been at it for two years. We knew
they supposed that we also were fighting in their worthy cause--just
as we had helped the Cubans fight for Cuban independence--and we
allowed them to go on thinking so. Until Manila was ours and we
could get along without them. Then we showed our hand. Of course,
they were surprised--that was natural; surprised and disappointed;
disappointed and grieved. To them it looked un-American;
uncharacteristic; foreign to our established traditions. And this was
natural, too; for we were only playing the American Game in public--
in private it was the European. It was neatly done, very neatly, and it
bewildered them. They could not understand it; for we had been so
friendly--so affectionate, even--with those simple-minded patriots!
We, our own selves, had brought back out of exile their leader, their
hero, their hope, their Washington--Aguinaldo; brought him in a
warship, in high honor, under the sacred shelter and hospitality of the
flag; brought him back and restored him to his people, and got their
moving and eloquent gratitude for it. Yes, we had been so friendly to
them, and had heartened them up in so many ways! We had lent
them guns and ammunition; advised with them; exchanged pleasant
courtesies with them; placed our sick and wounded in their kindly
care; intrusted our Spanish prisoners to their humane and honest
hands; fought shoulder to shoulder with them against “the common
enemy” (our own phrase); praised their courage, praised their
gallantry, praised their mercifulness, praised their fine and honorable
conduct; borrowed their trenches, borrowed strong positions which
they had previously captured from the Spaniards; petted them, lied
to them--officially proclaiming that our land and naval forces came to
give them their freedom and displace the bad Spanish Government--
fooled them, used them until we needed them no longer; then
derided the sucked orange and threw it away. We kept the positions
which we had beguiled them of; by and by, we moved a force
forward and overlapped patriot ground--a clever thought, for we
needed trouble, and this would produce it. A Filipino soldier, crossing
the ground, where no one had a right to forbid him, was shot by our
sentry. The badgered patriots resented this with arms, without
waiting to know whether Aguinaldo, who was absent, would approve
or not. Aguinaldo did not approve; but that availed nothing. What we
wanted, in the interest of Progress and Civilization, was the
Archipelago, unencumbered by patriots struggling for independence;
and War was what we needed. We clinched our opportunity. It is Mr.
Chamberlain’s case over again--at least in its motive and intention;
and we played the game as adroitly as he played it himself.”
At this point in our frank statement of fact to the Person Sitting in
Darkness, we should throw in a little trade taffy about the Blessings
of Civilization--for a change, and for the refreshment of his spirit--
then go on with our tale:
“We and the patriots having captured Manila, Spain’s ownership of
the Archipelago and her sovereignty over it were at an end--
obliterated--annihilated--not a rag or shred of either remaining
behind. It was then that we conceived the divinely humorous idea of
buying both of these specters from Spain! [It is quite safe to confess
this to the Person Sitting in Darkness, since neither he nor any other
sane person will believe it.] In buying those ghosts for twenty
millions, we also contracted to take care of the friars and their
accumulations. I think we also agreed to propagate leprosy and
smallpox, but as to this there is doubt. But it is not important;
persons afflicted with the friars do not mind other diseases.
“With our Treaty ratified, Manila subdued, and our Ghosts secured,
we had no further use for Aguinaldo and the owners of the
Archipelago. We forced a war, and we have been hunting America’s
guest and ally through the woods and swamps ever since.”
At this point in the tale, it will be well to boast a little of our war
work and our heroisms in the field, so as to make our performance
look as fine as England’s in South Africa; but I believe it will not be
best to emphasize this too much. We must be cautious. Of course,
we must read the war telegrams to the Person, in order to keep up
our frankness; but we can throw an air of humorousness over them,
and that will modify their grim eloquence a little, and their rather
indiscret exhibitions of gory exultation. Before reading to him the
following display heads of the dispatches of November 18, 1900, it
will be well to practice on them in private first, so as to get the right
tang of lightness and gayety into them:
“ADMINISTRATION WEARY OF
PROTRACTED HOSTILITIES!”

“REAL WAR AHEAD FOR FILIPINO


REBELS!”[10]

“WILL SHOW NO MERCY!”


“KITCHENER’S PLAN ADOPTED!”
Kitchener knows how to handle disagreeable people who are
fighting for their homes and their liberties, and we must let on that we
are merely imitating Kitchener, and have no national interest in the
matter, further than to get ourselves admired by the Great Family of
Nations, in which august company our Master of the Game has
bought a place for us in the back row.
Of course, we must not venture to ignore our General MacArthur’s
reports--oh, why do they keep on printing those embarrassing
things?--we must drop them trippingly from the tongue and take the
chances:

During the last ten months our losses have been 268 killed and
750 wounded; Filipino loss, three thousand two hundred and twenty-
seven killed, and 694 wounded.

We must stand ready to grab the Person Sitting in Darkness, for


he will swoon away at this confession, saying: “Good God! those
‘niggers’ spare their wounded, and the Americans massacre theirs!”
We must bring him to, and coax him and coddle him, and assure
him that the ways of Providence are best, and that it would not
become us to find fault with them; and then, to show him that we are
only imitators, not originators, we must read the following passage
from the letter of an American soldier lad in the Philippines to his
mother, published in Public Opinion, of Decorah, Iowa, describing
the finish of a victorious battle:
“We never left one alive. If one was wounded, we would
run our bayonets through him.”
Having now laid all the historical facts before the Person Sitting in
Darkness, we should bring him to again, and explain them to him.
We should say to him:
“They look doubtful, but in reality they are not. There have been
lies; yes, but they were told in a good cause. We have been
treacherous; but that was only in order that real good might come out
of apparent evil. True, we have crushed a deceived and confiding
people; we have turned against the weak and the friendless who
trusted us; we have stamped out a just and intelligent and well-
ordered republic; we have stabbed an ally in the back and slapped
the face of a guest; we have bought a Shadow from an enemy that
hadn’t it to sell; we have robbed a trusting friend of his land and his
liberty; we have invited our clean young men to shoulder a
discredited musket and do bandits’ work under a flag which bandits
have been accustomed to fear, not to follow; we have debauched
America’s honor and blackened her face before the world; but each
detail was for the best. We know this. The Head of every State and
Sovereignty in Christendom and 90 per cent of every legislative body
in Christendom, including our Congress and our fifty state
legislatures, are members not only of the church, but also of the
Blessings-of-Civilization Trust. This world-girdling accumulation of
trained morals, high principles, and justice cannot do an unright
thing, an unfair thing, an ungenerous thing, an unclean thing. It
knows what it is about. Give yourself no uneasiness; it is all right.”
Now then, that will convince the Person. You will see. It will restore
the Business. Also, it will elect the Master of the Game to the vacant
place in the Trinity of our national gods; and there on their high
thrones the Three will sit, age after age, in the people’s sight, each
bearing the Emblem of his service: Washington, the Sword of the
Liberator; Lincoln, the Slave’s Broken Chains; the Master, the Chains
Repaired.
It will give the Business a splendid new start. You will see.
Everything is prosperous, now; everything is just as we should
wish it. We have got the Archipelago, and we shall never give it up.
Also, we have every reason to hope that we shall have an
opportunity before very long to slip out of our congressional contract
with Cuba and give her something better in the place of it. It is a rich
country, and many of us are already beginning to see that the
contract was a sentimental mistake. But now--right now--is the best
time to do some profitable rehabilitating work--work that will set us
up and make us comfortable, and discourage gossip. We cannot
conceal from ourselves that, privately, we are a little troubled about
our uniform. It is one of our prides; it is acquainted with honor; it is
familiar with great deeds and noble; we love it, we revere it; and so
this errand it is on makes us uneasy. And our flag--another pride of
ours, our chiefest! We have worshiped it so; and when we have seen
it in far lands--glimpsing it unexpectedly in that strange sky, waving
its welcome and benediction to us--we have caught our breaths, and
uncovered our heads, and couldn’t speak, for a moment, for the
thought of what it was to us and the great ideals it stood for. Indeed,
we must do something about these things; it is easily managed. We
can have a special one--our states do it: we can have just our usual
flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by
the skull and crossbones.
And we do not need that Civil Commission out there. Having no
powers, it has to invent them, and that kind of work cannot be
effectively done by just anybody; an expert is required. Mr. Croker
can be spared. We do not want the United States represented there,
but only the Game.
By help of these suggested amendments, Progress and
Civilization in that country can have a boom, and it will take in the
Persons who are Sitting in Darkness, and we can resume Business
at the old stand.

10. “Rebels!” Mumble that funny word--don’t let the Person catch it
distinctly.
TO MY MISSIONARY CRITICS
(North American Review, 1901)

I have received many newspaper cuttings; also letters from several


clergymen; also a note from the Rev. Dr. Judson Smith,
Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Foreign
Missions--all of a like tenor; all saying, substantially, what is said in
the cutting here copied:
AN APOLOGY DUE FROM MR. CLEMENS

The evidence of the past day or two should induce Mark Twain to
make for the amen corner and formulate a prompt apology for his
scathing attack on the Rev. Dr. Ament, the veteran Chinese
missionary. The assault was based on a Peking dispatch to the New
York Sun, which said that Dr. Ament had collected from the Chinese
in various places damages thirteen times in excess of actual losses.
So Mark Twain charged Mr. Ament with bullyragging, extortion, and
things. A Peking dispatch to the Sun yesterday, however, explains
that the amount collected was not thirteen times the damage
sustained, but one-third in excess of the indemnities, and that the
blunder was due to a cable error in transmission. The 1-3d got
converted into 13. Yesterday the Rev. Judson Smith, Secretary of the
American Board, received a dispatch from Dr. Ament, calling
attention to the cable blunder, and declaring that all the collections
which he made were approved by the Chinese officials. The
fractional amount that was collected in excess of actual losses, he
explains, is being used for the support of widows and orphans.
So collapses completely--and convulsively--Mark Twain’s
sensational and ugly bombardment of a missionary whose character
and services should have exempted him from such an assault.
From the charge the underpinning has been knocked out. To Dr.
Ament Mr. Clemens has done an injustice which is gross but
unintentional. If Mark Twain is the man we take him to be he won’t
be long in filing a retraction, plus an apology.

I have no prejudice against apologies. I trust I shall never withhold


one when it is due; I trust I shall never even have a disposition to do
so. These letters and newspaper paragraphs are entitled to my best
attention; respect for their writers and for the humane feeling which
has prompted their utterances requires this of me. It may be barely
possible that, if these requests for an apology had reached me
before the 20th of February, I might have had a sort of qualified
chance to apologize; but on that day appeared the two little
cablegrams referred to in the newspaper cutting copied above--one
from the Rev. Dr. Smith to the Rev. Dr. Ament, the other from Dr.
Ament to Dr. Smith--and my small chance died then. In my opinion,
these cablegrams ought to have been suppressed, for it seems clear
that they give Dr. Ament’s case entirely away. Still, that is only an
opinion, and may be a mistake. It will be best to examine the case
from the beginning, by the light of the documents connected with it.
EXHIBIT A
This is a dispatch from Mr. Chamberlain,[11] chief of the Sun’s
correspondence staff in Peking. It appeared in the Sun last
Christmas Eve, and in referring to it hereafter I will call it the “C. E.
dispatch” for short:

The Rev. Mr. Ament, of the American Board of Foreign Missions,


has returned from a trip which he made for the purpose of collecting
indemnities for damages done by Boxers. Everywhere he went he
compelled the Chinese to pay. He says that all his native Christians
are now provided for. He had seven hundred of them under his
charge, and three hundred were killed. He has collected 300 taels for
each of these murders, and has compelled full payment for all the
property belonging to Christians that was destroyed. He also
assessed fines amounting to thirteen times[12] the amount of the
indemnity. This money will be used for the propagation of the
Gospel.
Mr. Ament declares that the compensation he has collected is
moderate when compared with the amount secured by the Catholics,
who demand, in addition to money, head for head. They collect 500
taels for each murder of a Catholic. In the Wen-Chiu country 680
Catholics were killed, and for this the European Catholics here
demand 750,000 strings of cash and 680 heads.
In the course of a conversation Mr. Ament referred to the attitude
of the missionaries toward the Chinese. He said:
“I deny emphatically that the missionaries are vindictive, that they
generally looted, or that they have done anything since the siege that
the circumstances did not demand. I criticize the Americans. The soft
hand of the Americans is not as good as the mailed fist of the
Germans. If you deal with the Chinese with a soft hand they will take
advantage of it.”

In an article addressed “To the Person Sitting in Darkness,”


published in the North American Review for February, I made some
comments upon this C. E. dispatch.
In an Open Letter to me, from the Rev. Dr. Smith, published in the
Tribune of February 15th, doubt is cast upon the authenticity of the
dispatch.
Up to the 20th of February, this doubt was an important factor in
the case: Dr. Ament’s brief cablegram, published on that date, took
the importance all out of it.
In the Open Letter, Dr. Smith quotes this passage from a letter
from Dr. Ament, dated November 13th. The italics are mine:

This time I proposed to settle affairs without the aid of soldiers or


legations.

This cannot mean two things, but only one: that, previously, he
had collected by armed force.
Also, in the Open Letter, Dr. Smith quotes some praises of Dr.
Ament and the Rev. Mr. Tewksbury, furnished by the Rev. Dr.
Sheffield, and says:
Dr. Sheffield is not accustomed to speak thus of thieves, or
extortioners, or braggarts.

What can he mean by those vigorous expressions? Can he mean


that the first two would be applicable to a missionary who should
collect from B, with the “aid of soldiers,” indemnities possibly due by
A, and upon occasion go out looting?
EXHIBIT B
Testimony of George Lynch (indorsed as entirely trustworthy by
the Tribune and the Herald), war correspondent in the Cuban and
South African wars, and in the march upon Peking for the rescue of
the legations. The italics are mine:

When the soldiers were prohibited from looting, no such


prohibitions seemed to operate with the missionaries. For instance,
the Rev. Mr. Tewksbury held a great sale of looted goods, which
lasted several days.
A day or two after the relief, when looking for a place to sleep in, I
met the Rev. Mr. Ament, of the American Board of Foreign Missions.
He told me he was going to take possession of the house of a
wealthy Chinaman who was an old enemy of his, as he had
interfered much in the past with his missionary labors in Peking. A
couple of days afterwards he did so, and held a great sale of his
enemy’s effects. I bought a sable cloak at it for $125, and a couple of
statues of Buddha. As the stock became depleted it was replenished
by the efforts of his converts, who were ransacking the houses in the
neighborhood.--New York Herald, February 18th.

It is Dr. Smith, not I, who has suggested that persons who act in
this way are “thieves and extortioners.”
EXHIBIT C
Sir Robert Hart, in the Fortnightly Review for January, 1901. This
witness has been for many years the most prominent and important
Englishman in China, and bears an irreproachable reputation for
moderation, fairness, and truth-speaking. In closing a description of
the revolting scenes which followed the occupation of Peking, when
the Christian armies (with the proud exception of the American
soldiery, let us be thankful for that) gave themselves up to a ruthless
orgy of robbery and spoliation, he says (the italics are mine):

And even some missionaries took such a leading part in “spoiling


the Egyptians” for the greater glory of God that a bystander was
heard to say: “For a century to come Chinese converts will consider
looting and vengeance Christian virtues.”

It is Dr. Smith, not I, who has suggested that persons who act in
this way are “thieves and extortioners.” According to Mr. Lynch and
Mr. Martin (another war correspondent), Dr. Ament helped to spoil
several of those Egyptians. Mr. Martin took a photograph of the
scene. It was reproduced in the Herald. I have it.
EXHIBIT D
In a brief reply to Dr. Smith’s Open Letter to me, I said this in the
Tribune. I am italicizing several words--for a purpose:

Whenever he (Dr. Smith) can produce from the Rev. Mr. Ament an
assertion that the Sun’s character-blasting dispatch was not
authorized by him, and whenever Dr. Smith can buttress Mr. Ament’s
disclaimer with a confession from Mr. Chamberlain, the head of the
Laffan News Service in China, that that dispatch was a false
invention and unauthorized, the case against Mr. Ament will fall at
once to the ground.

EXHIBIT E
Brief cablegrams, referred to above, which passed between Dr.
Smith and Dr. Ament, and were published on February 20th:

Ament, Peking: Reported December 24 your collecting thirteen


times actual losses; using for propagating the Gospel. Are these
statements true? Cable specific answer.
Smith.
Statement untrue. Collected 1-3 for church expenses, additional
actual damages; now supporting widows and orphans. Publication
thirteen times blunder cable. All collections received approval
Chinese officials, who are urging further settlements same line.
Ament.

Only two questions are asked; “specific” answers required; no


perilous wanderings among the other details of the unhappy dispatch
desired.
EXHIBIT F
Letter from Dr. Smith to me, dated March 8th. The italics are mine;
they tag inaccuracies of statement:

Permit me to call your attention to the marked paragraphs in the


inclosed papers, and to ask you to note their relation to the two
conditions named in your letter to the New York Tribune of February
15th.
The first is Dr. Ament’s denial of the truth of the dispatch in the
New York “Sun,” of December 24th, on which your criticisms of him
in the North American Review of February were founded. The
second is a correction by the “Sun’s” special correspondent in
Peking of the dispatch printed in the Sun of December 24th.
Since, as you state in your letter to the Tribune, “the case against
Mr. Ament would fall to the ground” if Mr. Ament denied the truth of
the Sun’s first dispatch, and if the ‘Sun’s’ news agency in Peking
also declared that dispatch false, and these two conditions have thus
been fulfilled, I am sure that upon having these facts brought to your
attention you will gladly withdraw the criticisms that were founded on
a “cable blunder.”

I think Dr. Smith ought to read me more carefully; then he would


not make so many mistakes. Within the narrow space of two
paragraphs, totaling eleven lines, he has scored nine departures
from fact out of a possible 9½. Now, is that parliamentary? I do not
treat him like that. Whenever I quote him, I am particular not to do
him the least wrong, or make him say anything he did not say.
(1) Mr. Ament doesn’t “deny the truth of the C. E. dispatch”; he
merely changes one of its phrases, without materially changing the
meaning, and (immaterially) corrects a cable blunder (which
correction I accept). He was asked no question about the other four
fifths of the C. E. dispatch. (2) I said nothing about “special”
correspondents; I named the right and responsible man--Mr.
Chamberlain. The “correction” referred to is a repetition of the one I
have just accepted, which (immaterially) changes “thirteen times” to
“one third” extra tax. (3) I did not say anything about “the Sun’s news
agency”; I said “Chamberlain.” I have every confidence in Mr.
Chamberlain, but I am not personally acquainted with the others. (4)
Once more--Mr. Ament didn’t “deny the truth” of the C. E. dispatch,
but merely made unimportant emendations of a couple of its many
details. (5) I did not say “if Mr. Ament denied the truth” of the C. E.
dispatch: I said, if he would assert that the dispatch was not
“authorized” by him. For example, I did not suppose that the charge
that the Catholic missionaries wanted 680 Chinamen beheaded was
true; but I did want to know if Dr. Ament personally authorized that
statement and the others, as coming from his lips. Another detail:
one of my conditions was that Mr. Chamberlain must not stop with
confessing that the C. E. was a “false invention,” he must also
confess that it was “unauthorized.” Dr. Smith has left out that large
detail. (6) The Sun’s news agency did not “declare the C. E. dispatch
false,” but confined itself to correcting one unimportant detail of its
long list--the change of “13 times” to “one third” extra. (7) The “two
conditions” have not “been fulfilled”--far from it. (8) Those details
labeled “facts” are only fancies. (9) Finally, my criticisms were by no
means confined to that detail of the C. E. dispatch which we now
accept as having been a “cable blunder.”
Setting to one side these nine departures from fact, I find that what
is left of the eleven lines is straight and true. I am not blaming Dr.
Smith for these discrepancies--it would not be right, it would not be
fair. I make the proper allowances. He has not been a journalist, as I
have been--a trade wherein a person is brought to book by the rest
of the press so often for divergencies that, by and by, he gets to be
almost morbidly afraid to indulge in them. It is so with me. I always
have the disposition to tell what is not so; I was born with it; we all
have it. But I try not to do it now, because I have found out that it is
unsafe. But with the Doctor of course it is different.
EXHIBIT G

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