The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-04-05
AN EMPIRE RUN BY WOMEN,
The Finances Of China Published for the
First Time-Widespread Corruption.

First Time-W Widespread Corruption.
For the first time in the history o
China has the state of imperial finance
been disclosed. The Chinese budget
for 1855 shows the total revenue il
coin to be "a, 051, ,209 taels, each tael be-
ing worth S1.61; the grain tribute
amounts to 4,177,604 peculs of 13s
pounds each, which is estimated to be
worth 8, 355, ,208 taels. Thus the entire
imperial revenue of China during the
past financial year foots up a total oi
about S7O,OOO,OO0. The budget of ex,
penditure shows the cost of the central
government at q, ,044, $50 taels, of which
the army and navy is set down in round
numbers at 4,50O, 900; salaries of civil
and military officers, 7,OS7, 1913 f; admin
istration of central government, 6S9, ,377
taels. Couriers and mails cost nearly
four times as much river embankments
and public works are charged at $780,
900 taels. A reserve fund of 1879, 742
taels is set apart for some unexplained
object China was without the luxury
of foreign debt until 1874, when a
loan bearing eight per cent. interest for
SO, 13S, ,375 was issued through the Hong
Kong and Shanghai bank, under impe-
rial authority, secured on the customs
revenue. The existence of this loan CAN
not account for such q large re-
serve fund, but there may be an internal
debt. interest on which would absorb the
difference.
The emperor, being spiritual as well
as temporal sovereign, maintains neither
ecclesiastical hierarchy nor priesthood ;
hence an expenditure for religious cere-
monies and the State religion of 1872, 1S2
taels may be regarded as perquisite of
the Sublimely Pure There is also a
suspicious item of 1,317, 1OS taels in mis-
cellaneous expenditures of the central
government. The next highest item of
expenditure is for examinations and aid
to the iterati, which is not peculiar in
an empire ruled by red tape and COM
petitive examination, Public charity
and pensions and gratuities likewise
figure for solid sums in the list of gen.
eral expenditures. But tho expenditures
of the imperial household, which came
under O separate head, foot up total
of IL, ,257, 11S taels, being an excess of
expenditure over revenue of 6,607, $3.50
taels.
Considering the vast empire of China,
the revenue and expenditure as exhibited
in these figures is not large; but these
sums do not represent tithe OF the
money squeezed by provincial magnates
from the helpless people. The de-
ficiency of revenue is usually made up of
donations. which are in exchange of rank
and place. In other words, by the sale
of office.
The heads of expenditure of the i'm
perial household of China are historical
ly instructive. Tartar like, the reigning
family trusts to Tartar troops, and the
Ia Using dynasty pays 5,542, ,421 taels
annually in maintenance of the army Of
Eight Banners and q Mongol auxiliary
troop. Rice and other food cost over
1880, 900 taels !; aid to mandarins, swal-
lows 1866 taels; presents and pen
sions lick up cool half million sacri-
flee to the Grand Llama (another i'm
perial perquisite) amounts to nearly
350,000 taels; while porcelain, ETC., cost
POI, ,SO9 taels. Corruption and oppres-
sion are rampant within the great wall,
and it is said that enormous sums are
annually diverted from their legitimate
uses into the pockets of officials. The
tendency of public corruption has not
lessened since the usurpation of power
by women of the imperial household, the
oovernnoent of China HAVING been RIM
by the two Empress Regents, ruling
Jointly since 1861, except a short time
during the reign of the late boy en-
peror. The ambitious extravaganza Of
these Tartar danes may be readily imag-
ined in such a court as that of Peking.