The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1895, 1895-05-02
HOW CHINA
Will Pay the War
Indemnity.

$3.50, 900, 900 in gold from China
in addition to the territory which
Is to be granted as the price of
peace. 1t is a question in the
minds of all who know anythi ng
concerning the Chinese Govern =
ment as to how it will be able to
collect this vast sum. 1t will
probably get the money in the
first place in the shape of a for
eign loan, and the customs will
be mortgaged to pay the interest.
At present China has perhaps the
lowest taxes In the world, and the
farmers pay less on their lands
than they do in any of the coun-
tries of Europe. The increasing
of such taxes would create re-
volution. The only way that the
Government can raise money will
be through levying duties on i'm
ports and exports. This will fill
the rivers with tax gatherers, and
China will be honeycombed with
network of official robbers.
&c very officer will put
some OF the receipts in his own
pocket, and prices of all kinds
will rise. The rivers are the
highways of China. The country
is said to have 1000 roads, but it
has none which are good, and the
rivers and the canals form the
chief means of communication.
There is no land on the globe
which is better watered. There
are provinces in China as big as
New York which are cut up by
canals like Holland, and in which
you can visit every mans house
by boat. You can travel distanc
longer than a journey around the
world on the China interior wa
terways, and the Nile has its
equals'in the Yangtse Kiang and
Hoang Ho. Each of these rivers
carries as much silt as The Nile
every year, and the sea is colored
yellow for from thirty to fifty
miles on each side of their
mouths, At the mouth of Yang
tse Kiang the water is as thick as
pea soup, and all along the
mighty river mon are seen Dip
ping it up, pouring it into ditch
es. in order that it may be car
ried off and spread over the land.
L have travelled more than 1000
miles upon these wonderful rivers
of China. The scenes along their
banks are like those of no other
streams of the world. Irrigation
goes on everywhere and the fertil-
izing material which they contain
rejuvenates the Chinese soil as
the Nile does that ef Egypt. The
Great PLAN of China, which, by
the way, is ahe most thickly pop
ulated part of the Empire, has
been built up from the sea by the
Chinese rivers. 1t runs along the
Pacific coast for abont 700 miles,
and it is from 300 to 500 miles
wide. 1t is one of the richest
plains of the world, and it's soil
is mixed with salts and the evil
dences of decayed vegetation. 1t
comes from the Loess region in
the far interior of China. This
is vast territory covered with
with yellow earth about 1000
feet deep. This soil is very fine
and when stream flows into it
it seems to split open vertically,
and the rivers which run through
it pass through gorges of sand
500 feet deep. From time to time
the yellow soil splits off in sheets
from the sides of these gorges
and it is carried down to the sea.
During the hot season the winds
blow through the Loess region
and carry the dust over China.
This aids In its fertilization.
The silt carried down by the
rivers to the sea is SO great that
the land every year encrooches 100
feet upon the sea. Near Shanghai
there is a large island which has
been built up by the Yangtse
I,iang, and the land north of this
is, to great extent, the product
of the Hoang Ho and the Peiho.
The Yangtss Kiang River is said