The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-07-27

essary s9r every nation to have SONS
religion, whether they unders tand it or
not" and hence the superstition of the
Chinese has taken hold of Buddha as
the best they can do. But this unknown
! God has failed them so often in great
emergencies they have no unwavering
faith in him. And yet there are over
1.0O0,C00 priests in the empire who
make a beggarly living out of Bud
! dhism. Buddha has given them little
god for everything. Everything that
| concerns their temporal welfare; moth
| ing for the heart or the immortal soul.
They do not believe in either. They
say that there is no future life, but if
there is then good conduct in this life
Will insure safety in that. If the rice
wants rain, they appeal to the god of
rain. If the drought continues long.
they drag the little rain god out on his
wheels and let him stand in the burn
ing sun until it does rain. They want
him to see and feel how hot it is. If the
rain comes too much and lasts too long
and the rice is sprouting in the fields
they get their squirt guns and drench
herain god every day until he stops the
pour down. We ought to have him over
here this June and put our Cinnamon to
work on him.
But the governmeDt-the govern
ment of 600, OG0, 900 of people does not
cost half as much as ours, with about
oO.000.oOO. The per capita tax is about
Is cents, and all taxes are paid in rice.
China has no bonded debt. No rev.
enue from whisky or wine, for none is
distilled or drank. Nothing is in her
way of peace and contentment save for
eigners and opium. | do not know
what is the salary of the emperor or
empress, but all salaries are small.
The prince who is to succeed the en-
peror gets only $4,000 per annum.
Then there are thousands and thou
sands of officials in every province.
from the governor down, but their pay
is small. A soldier in the standing
army gets but four dollars per month.
That army is composed of about 1o0o,-
900 men. The emperor has no arbi-
trary power. He must conform to the
Ia rs anu must duNlSt Nllu Ills cdDlDeIt
and behind all is the great board Of
control that represents the people and
is made up of two or more learned
and good men from every province.
This board does not act often or on
trifles, but when any great emergency
arises they meet at Picking and their
word controls the emperor and every
1y- aIC hot Sc Of Lol
ment, is it? The emperor is entitled
to an empress and two other wives, who
are called queens. If the empress
leaves no son, then a son of a queen
is taken, but nobody knows which son
until the emperor dies, for Confucius
said that if the young man knew that
ne was chosen it might make him ar
-ogant.
Another peculiar and democratic pro-
vision of the constitution is that the
nobility shall not always be nobility.
Every generation is reduced in rank
ana power down to the seventh, and
hen they become as the common peo-
Ole. This keeps the nobility on the
Town grade and keeps the governments
4 JIM bClLS WEN ul4 W pam ptIeu
lristocracy. That's good. Yes. it is
better than the English law of primo
reniture. which gives all rank and the
rome estate TO the eldest son and tells
he others to go to grass. saw
lumber of the grass fellows in Florida.
On the whole, I like the Chinese gov
rnment and have respect for the peo-
lie. Bret Harte wrote:
THAT for ways that are dark
And tricks that are vain,
The heather Chinee is peculiar"
Yes. l expect Bret was trying to win
heir money and they won his.
This is enough of geography. have
'ritten it for Kirby Anderson and Bert
Lorgan and their sort. Paul Akin
allied our little grandchild to come out
n the veranda and kiss him good
light. She had put on her nightgown
nd said to her mother: Mamma, Paul
oesn't know any better. does he?"
here are a good many big schoolboys
no know no more about China than
irby.-Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitu-