SepU'lnlicr Hi), VMO.
THIS 1 LLl'STH ATHl) 1112 13.
Official Corruption in
Chinese Government
ported. Slio deals In millions. Just about
I ho time of t ho OhliH'si1-Jhiuuioho war her
tlt lot h lilrlliiluy occurred. It was planned
that tin- celebration on that ooension sh ulil
i" st ahui $2,(ioo,0HO. Tlio old woman h.id
alitady received a great p.irt of this at the
time the war broke out, but she remit tod
(t'opy 1-tnht. l!i,Kl, liy Prank 15. Carpenter. l
SHANGHAI. Auk. 23, 1000.-(Special Cor
respondence of The lloo.) This war 's
bound to result In the reorganization of the
Chinese government. It will bo of no valuo
to the world If It does not. I have talked
with Eomo of the ablest foreigners In China
mid this opinion Is almost universal. 1 have
traveled considerably over the empire. Its
government Is honoyooinhed with eorrup
tlon. It Is like on old eheeso lllled with
skippers, which If rendered out Into oap
urease could not furnish enough to wash
China clean. This (orruptloa Is oory where
Tho olllclals get small mimics, but th
so line their pockets with bribes that the
chief mo 113 of making fortunes Is In buying
olllces. The empress dowager and tho em
peror have been sol. lug (.111 'i s Keenly every
'olllclal about the palace has boon peddling
his lnlluonco. and 1 hear of eunuchs who
have made millions. livery Chinese oli
and tin re lire four thousand walled one l.i
tho empire, has Its corrupt olllclals, who
glow fat by squeezing tho o.;ple.
Some of the olllces are worth fortunes
Take the taotal or mayor of this town of
Shanghai. His annual Hilary Is about $2,r0 i
and the usual term is for three years. How
much do you think it coats to get the olll o :
Just about $200,000 in gold. Tho mna pays
this and makes money. lie gets i iioukIi
from bribes and other such sources to run
his liiiom' up to a most $:i0,0')0 a moiih, and
It Is a poor year In which he does not net
a quarter of a million in gold. Tho hut
taotal told a friend of mine hero that i
wanted to stay In olllco Just as long as ho
could, for every day was worth a clean
$1,000 to him.
Another profitable olllco Is the taotalshlp
of Tien Tsln. Through that city passes the
greater part of tho trade of north Chlnn,
amounting to tens of millions of dollars,
and on nil this tho taotal gets a squeeze.
Tho taotal of Canton Is rich, as are also
tho tnotals of Hankow, Wuchang, Kankln,
Hnugchau and a score of other cities.
There nro eight viceroys In China, each of
whom handles tons of millions. As long ns
ho sends tho requlsito amount of tnxes to
Pckln he Is not troubled, and he takes his
percentage on all that passes through his
hands. Tho viceroys have their own armies.
Thoy each have far more power than tho
nrnRfflnnt nf (lin Clilti.il Slntnw Thntr liu.nl
salaries nro nhout $.",0,000 a year each, hut
the salary Is a bagatelle In comparison with
their Incomes.
MiiKlNtnitoN AVIiii Jlnko .t:il,(HIII n Venr.
The lower olllclals make proportionately
largo sums, and almost every mandarin's
button has to be paid for, and many which
denote high rank cost In one way or another
thousands of dollars. They arc cheap, never
theless, for most of the olllclals lny away a
fortune In their three years' term. Dr.
Hykes, the head of the American Bible So
cloty of Chlnn, told mo tho other day the
story of a magistrate of Kuklang, a town
which lies several hundred miles above hero
on tho banks of tho Ynngtse. The magis
trate began life as a spectacle peddler. Ho
becanio n yamcn runner, finally rose to bs
a head policeman nnd nt last was mado
magistrate. His name was Yuen. Said Dr.
Hykes:
"I knew Yuen was quite wealthy and ono
day I asked him what his salary was. Ho
-opllcd that the government paid him $"."
a month. I knew that ho was spending nt
least $1,000 a month, and I asked him con
fidentially how ho did It. He replied, as ho
winked tho other eye, that It was trim $7.1
n month was not n largo salary, hut with
ordinary care a thrifty man so paid could
annually lay away about $I!0,000.
"This man," continued Dr. Hykes, "was
'cry shrewd and ho well understood tho na
ture of his fellows. After leaving the mag
istracy ho got a big position at l'ekin, se
curing It through tho building of some,
forts nt Kuklang. The appropriation for the
forts was n moderate one, hut thoy were
built within its limits, and at the close
,Yuon received a compliment from the gov--rnor
of tho province for his honest, eco
nomical work and his ollUiency as a public
rvant. This compliment was sent to
l'ekin and tho result was his appointment.
"I asked Yuen how tho governor came to
"lnplimeiit him. Ho replied that it was
tfc'sorved as far as the excellency of the
rk was concerned. Ho said ho had mndo
ii"thlng out of tho Job, although ho had
'"tio It for $110,000 less than the contract
pi ce. 'I took tho $:10.000,' said he, 'and
.nu ii nr lilt' 11,1-1111,1 tin u Jill'ni'lll. lit'
ilioroupon complimented me for the work
'id sent In a reconimendntlon from which
i got my fat Job at l'ekin.' "
The Olil Kmiiri'NN iik ii Siiiceec.
'hio of tho worst squeezers In the whole of
'limit Is tho old empress dowager. Tint
what I hear on every side. 1 learnt 1
'''My Instances of her squeezing dining mv
s(wral visits to l'ekin. .lust before this war
' nil olin linil lifit (UTiiti.u irn'iwr rtltMiil it t ,
.... ...... ,ti ... . h"'h '""' "
' na blackmailing tho chief olllclals. I.
ng Chang was sent by her to Canton m
J4tor that ho might squoezo some mlll on
" of tho people there. Kang YI, a short
before, mndo a trip during which he
eczed vnst amounts out of tho vlcornys
ihor north, nnd through othor agents she
i drawing In gold nnd silver from a
isand sources. Kvorynnn who came to
palaco at l'ekin had to pay something
ior or her underlings, and tho vlrcois
' ided to go on account of tho oxtrnva
t expotiBO.
o ot tho chiefs aids of tho old empress
are now and then able to buy It In the
curio shops,
The Ilinperiir'H (initio-.,
1 hae before mo a list of things which
wore supplied to the empen r In one year
from some if (hose imperial factories One
He'll Is icon pellilbi (Hid .'Oil ullecls of rod
I
I'ltlM'K (HI
Sl'DDHKLY.
N 111- KMI-HittUtS l''Tlli:U. Wilt) DIICD VI
TSI.U 1,1
Nl'Cll.
THIS HMPHHSS HOW OHIl S I'WOItlTK 1H
In squeezing was her favorite eunuch. This
was a man named li Tslau 1.1. lie was
the sou of a shoemaker In the little town
ot iung Chow. Ho was takm In'.o tho palace
at the age of II. and when he was
.11 had already amassed about a million
dollars, Por a long time every fat appoint
ment had to pass through his hands, and he
made every olllclal pay. lie was hand in
glove with 1.1 Hung Chang, and it has
been charged that they divided the com
missions after giving tho empress the lion's
share.
I have heard ot l'l Tsiuu 1,1 getting $100,
0d0 for a single olllce, and whim ho died,
only a few mouths ago, It Is said that his
(Mate amounted to 3S,000,000 tnels, or nioro
than $30,000,000 In gold. A pretty good
fortune for n shoemaker's son!
Sonn after li Tslau I.I was takm Into tho
pnlnco his father was given a government
position and all of his relatives got places.
This man took bribes from all classes. Ho
had a wonderful memory for theso who
sent him presents, nnd It became the fash
ion with every ono who wished anything ot
tho government to send a present to l'l
Tslau IA In order that It might not bo for
gotten. When this eunuch died ho had about $10,
000,000 In portable securities, whllo his
landed estates spread over threo provinces,
Chlh I.I, Khan Si and Ilonau. Ho owned
whole streets ot houses In Pckln, as well
as real estate In other cities. Ho was a
U ver of the lino arts, and ho had ono
l.i ouzo which cost him about $100,000. It
was an urn, live feet high. Another bronze
vesBol, mndo, It Is said, about 2000 II. C,
was seven foot high. It cost an enormous
sum.
li Tslau LI not only accepted bribes for
the securing of ofllcos, but ho sold pardona
as well. One olllclal paid $2.10,000 to ho
freed from arrest. This was Chlng Kuan,
a member of tho board of rovonuo at l'ekin,
who had a deficiency of more than $.100,100
In his accounts.
Ko one over thoroughly uudei stood the
n hit Ion of l'l Tslau 1,1 and tho empress
dowager. It was charged by some that tho
old lady was In love with him to such an
extent that he could wheedle her Into
doing anything he wished.
YVl'tltlll III' III!' I llll l I'I'HH I III HHI' I".
The empress Is ory rich, and she prob
ably has some millions of dollars' worth of
diamonds and pearls sewed Into her clothos.
She had a vast amount of silver and gold
In the palace, but whether this has boon
bill lid ir N "till I hi re has nut been re-
unothor part In order that It might no de
voted to tho expenses of tho war.
The empress dowager's last extravagance
has been on her tomb. She has planned a
minisuleinn which, with Its surroundings,
Is to cost something like $10,000,000. Many
of tho Chinese olllclals considered this an
extravagance, but they did not dare to
object. She has also been collecting funds
for the restoration of tho summer palace,
nnd undoubtedly has great treasures stored
up somewhere.
At the same time the old lady under
stands how to play to the galleries. Kot
long ago when there was a famine in one
part of her empire she had it published in
the l'ekin (iiizolto that she could not bear
to eat expensive viands whllo her people
were starving, and that she bird cut otf
her allowance of fresh pork for a week.
The Imperial perquisites come ' from
many souiees. Kvory Industry In China
has an Imperial branch or factory. Here
you Mud tho most skilled of Chinese work
men, who are supposed to labor only for
the emperor and his court. Porcelain is
made by tho thousands of plates. Tea
cups are turned out in vast quantities and
there are thousands of magiilllcout Jars,
urns and vases. At Kankln I visited the
Imperial looms where the lines! of olvels
and silks are made, and in other cities I
have seen imperial factories for embroid
eries and laces. All those are supposed lo
be run exclusively at tho expense of the
government, and It Is against tho law for
the managers of the factories to sell tho
imperial ware. The managers, however,
make double the amount of tho orders sent
them. They store the surplus, and after
their term of olllce Is over surreptitiously
sell It.
1 heard todav or one man who was re
cently the head of the Imperial porcelain
works further up tho Yangtso who has
$so,000 worth of china hidden In his own
house nnd In the houses of his friends.
Nothing could ho sent to the empress dow
ager except pieces absolutely perfect, so
when l.tioo pieces were ordered ho mndo
.1,000 pieces, for fear 1,000 might turn out
bad. Willie he was making 5,000 ho thought
lie might as well make 10,000, and so tho
empress for the 1,000 pieces she received
paid the cost of tho 10,000. Out of the sale
of the remaining 0,000 the oll'iial was able
to give away enough to keep himself solid
Willi tho powers tint were and to soli
enough to make his family rich thereafter.
You fl tul much of this Imperial china scat
tered throughout the dllforeiit cities, and
MAGISTUATKS WHO MAKU $30,000 A YUAU.
scrolls. Another shipment consisted of
ninety pieces of gauze, and I see that tho
total orders for silk gauze dining that year
amounted to :t, Iimi rolls. In the same time
tho emperor required i!00 handkerchiefs to
blow his imperial nose, whllo to clothe his
aristocratic limbs were sent """ rolls of
satin, .ion rolls of brocaded satin and 11,000
pieces of other kinds of lino goods.
Tho embroideries made In the Imperial
shops are sent to the emperor and tho em
press liy tho boatload. Tho eunuchs steal
from them, and some of the llnesl speci
mens get into the hands of peddlers, who
bring them to the foreign legations and
sell them. Such goods got as far south as
Canton, and I have bought thorn myself at
the hotels hero at Shanghai.
If the present war drives the emperor
and empress from l'ekin the soldiers will
Unit splendid loot In tho palace. The build
ings are a perfect treasure house of choice
goods. They probably contain more gold,
silver and precious stones than did tho pal
aces of the rajahs of India which were
looted by the Imgllsh soldiers years ago,
and tho soldiers of the great powers will
not probably pay more respect to tho
lights of the Chinese than the llrlllsh sol
diers did to those of tho Hindoos.
There are some queer things going on in
the Imperial family. The Chinese have1
boon so teriilled by the old empress dow
nger that thoy dure not circulate any re
ports contrary to her will. Ko one really
knows much nhout the emperor. lie may
bo alive or he may be dead. A few months
ago tho report wns circulated that ho had
escaped from his prison In the palace. Ko
one knew whero ho had gone. At about tho
same tlmo n well-odueated, Hue-looking
Chinaman was arrested at Wuchang, a city
about as far south of 1'okln as Kow York
Is distant from Chicago.
Tho Judge at Wuchang found this young
Chinaman guilty and ordered him to bo
baiubooed. Ills clothes were taken off and
he was laid on his face on tho floor. Tho
bambooers wore Just about to bring their
rods down upon him when It was discov
ered that ho was tattooed wit li the Im
perial dragon, a design which Is only per
mitted lo the royal family. Tho matter
was hushed up and the man allowed to go
free, the olllcers fearing for their liven
that It might he his Imperial majesty. How
true the story Is I do not know. It was
whispered to me tho other night by one of
the highest of the Chinese olllclals.
Xnt llenllli.v In iiiie (Mil Dnwimer.
There Is ono thing upon which thu peo
ple seem to ho unanimous, and (lint Is that
It Is not healthy for a Chinese to oppose
the old dowager. She Is charged with
being as free with her poison and kulfo as
were the emperors during the last dnya of
Home. I have heaid It stated that sho ma
il rlally assisted her husband In getting to
ii bettor land. After ho died, she ruled In
lotiipany wnh his first wife, known as tho
iiistirn empress. The enstern empress had
a quarrel with the empress dowager, and
soon nftor this sho grow sick and passed
away. I hnve heard It whispered that
Marquis Tseng nnd I'rlnco Ch'un died tin
lnturnl deaths Just at tho right tlmo to
benefit this remarkable woman.
Tho trouble tho present emperor hnd
v ith her was chielly cnuscd by tho death
of his mother In 1X0(1. Tho emperor's
n. other thought tho empress dowager was
not treating her son rightly, and she oal'od
at tho palaeo at Uho Park and protested
ngalnst the extraordinary demands which
the dowager mado upon him. This mado
tho dowager empress angry. Sho ordorod
her servants to lake away her guest's
sedan i hair and sent her buck to 1'okln In
a common cart. Tho old lady died tho
next day, and It wns currently reported
1 lint her death wns duo to tho mortification
from tho treatment she, tho mothor of nn
I
emperor, had received. Whether she ate
or drank anything whllo at tho empress
dow tiger's palace is not stated.
Tho empress dowager practically ruled
China whllo her son Tung Chi was otn
pel or. He was a baby when his father
died, nnd his mother was monarch until he
became of ago. Sho ruled through hlai
until ho got tho smallpox nnd passed awav,
to give place to the son of 1'rluco Chun, the
piesont emperor. 1 have already spoki u
of 1'iince Chun's death.
Another curious death was that of th"
wife of Kmporor Tung Chi, a Miincliu girl
named Alutoh. She was mado empress of
Chlnn In 1N72. having been chosen by the
empress dowager as her daughter-in-law
It Is said that sho was abi ut to have a child
at the time Kmporor Tung Chi died of
"inallpov, but that sho herself died ).-fore
ho child was born. Had she lived there
would have probably been a change In th"
Imperial regime nnd the empress dowager
might have had to stop down and out I
d not know that sho had anything to d
with her ilaiiglitor-tu-law Mutch's dcutli.
but she certainly profiled by It.
The empress dowager picked out the
wives for the present emperor. This no
urred twelve years ago nnd I happened lo
tie in 1'okln ut the time the choice was
mndo. She took two sisters, ono 1.1 and
he other i:t years old, both the daughters
.f her brother, Chang llsll. and couhc
queiilly her nieces. Tho ITi-year-old girl
became the empress and her younger sister
i Kocondary wife or an "Imperial concubine
of second rank." Theso glrbi, of course,
have been the tools of their Imperial aunt
and the emperor has had enemies and spies
in his ow n family.
The character of the emperor 1 will ills
cuss In a future letter. There Is no doubt,
however, hut that tho empress dowager
should be carefully handled by tho powers
China can bo more easily ruled without her
than with her nnd If there Is uiiy Island
like St. Helena, a good, long distance away
from this part of the world, It will ho well
to Incarcerate this female Napoleon upon It.
KltAN'K (1. CAHl'HNTUU.
Confederate Seal
"The result of the last confederate coun
cil of war held at Abbeville, S. ('., In May.
IM'i.1. was soon known nil over Abbeville
and the geuoials and the secretary of war
weto kepi busy for hours signing lumorable
discharges for the tired soldiers, who Im
mediately applied for them," writes Mrs.
Thaddeiis lloiioti In tho October Undies'
Home Journal. "During the evening Mr.
Iteiijiuniii asked for a hatchet and with It
ho defaced the confederate seal. About 12
o'clock tho same night tho confederate party
continued Us retreat In the direction of
Washington, (in., and while crossing the
SiiMiuiiah liver In the darkness Homo one
suggested that the seal bo thrown over
board. This Idea was at once approved
and when the boat reached midstream li
was dropped with a dull splash Into the
sandy riverbed of that beautiful southern
watercourse, whole to this day, Its mission
all fitllllled. It serenely rests."
VARICOCELE
Ami UcstiltiiiK
NERV0-VITAL DISEASES
My seleiilllle Investigations have shown
that Varicocele and Associated Pelvic dis
eases, liv Ihelr rellex effects Upon the
Nervous ,S.sein cause Paralysis nnd other
grave N rvo-Vltal Disorders.
The Pa liardson Method, which I origi
nated a u ii
a d in lulster
p o r s oiially
ut my .Sani
tarium, euros
these d I s
eiiscs rapid
ly, and lo
stay cured.
IT AWAY II M V, ,i,.se -
tiou of their ease as they understand It,
will receive my professional opinion with
out charge, also copies nf my publications.
If books are to lie sent sealed, Inclose III
cents to prepay postage.
.vi v eniisiiiiaiioii Hours are: imny. in lo
I; evenings, 7 to S: Sundays, to to I. Special
appointments for private Interview may bo
maiio by teiepiioiung Hun t li nc.i (long-ills-tnnce
connections).
m DO NOT WEAR a
AJ) SUSPEHSORY
"Good
Riddance
to Bad
Rubbish.
D. D. RICHARDSON, M.D.
1266-71 MICHIGAN AV
CHICAGO, ILL.
