XIV.
THE TEA INDUSTRY.
The cultivation of tea in China and Japan is another of
the great industries of these nations, taking rank with
that of sericulture, if not above it, in the important part
it plays in the welfare of the people. There is little reason
to doubt that the industry has its foundation in the
need of something to render boiled water palatable for
drinking purposes. The drinking of boiled water has
been universally adopted in these countries as an
individually available, thoroughly efficient and safe guard
against that class of deadly disease germs which it has
been almost impossible to exclude from the drinking water
of any densely peopled country.
So far as may be judged from the success of the most thorough sanitary measures thus far instituted, and taking into consideration the inherent difficulties which must increase enormously with increasing populations, it appears inevitable that modern methods must ultimately fail in sanitary efficiency and that absolute safety must be secured in some manner having the equivalent effect of boiling water, long ago adopted by the Mongolian races, and which destroys active disease germs at the latest moment before using. And it must not be overlooked that the boiling of drinking water in China and Japan has been demanded quite as much because of congested rural populations as to guard against such dangers in large cities, while as yet our sanitary engineers have dealt only with the urban phases of this most vital problem and chiefly,
