The Chicago world., 1900-01-27
Ii HUNG CHANGES WEALTH.
Ways in Which the Famous China-
man Accumulated His Enor-
nous Fortune.


GUS Chinese of the age, is often called
the richest man in the world. This as
sertion is easier made than proved,
for nobody knows how rich he is. His
fortune may certainly be counted by
millions of dollars, but how many mil
lions is purely conjectural. 1t is
enough to say that he is very wealthy,
and he accumulated nearly the whole
of his fortune by taking advantage of
his opportunities and making oppor-
tunities during his long service as
viceroy of Marking and Pechili.
The Statesman's Year Books says
that Chinese politicians prefer to be
governors or viceroys of the provinces
than to hold office under the general
government, owing to the superior op-
portunities they have for getting rich
while at the head of the provincial
governments. This is stating the case
mildly, for the politicians. of any west
ern governments who should amass
fortunes by the devious methods EN-
ployed by many of the Chinese vice
roys would be called boodlers and
plunderers of the public treasury. Iii
Hung Chang is the most progressive
and enlightened of Chinese statesmen,
but he was not a whit better than his
fellow governors in his methods of
using his exalted position to feather
his own nest; and having a longer
head than most viceroys and a very
keen eye for the main chance he is
supposed to have accumulated a mucn
larger fortune than any other vice
roy.
One way in which Ii for many
years made an enormous sum Of
money was to use thousands of sol
diers in his own private enterprises
without paying them a cent for their
labor. In the course of time he pur-
chased extensive estates in the rice
growing regions and raised more
bushels of rice every year than the
bonanza farmers of North Dakota
used to raise wheat. He got his labor
for nothing and his great crop of rice
was almost clear profit. He simply
turned his soldiers loose in the rice
fields and they had to be content with
the raticns and the miserable pittance
paid to them by the government.
The great man also became his own
contractor for army supplies. He
would sell his own rice to the govern
ment for army rations at an enormous
profit, and pocketed a handsome rake
off on all other supplies furnished to
the tens of thousands of soldiers IN
the Pechili province. Then he was
chief supreme of the custom houses
for a long distance around the Gulf
of Pechili, and there was nothing
mean about the stream of gold that
poured into his strong-box through
this channel. 1t has long been notori-
Gus that one of the methods he en-
ployed was to import large quantities
of goods through his agents without
the payment of a cent of duty and
then sell the goods at a round figure
to his countrymen. This method of
money-making finally involved the old
gentleman in trouble; charges were
made against him and he came near
losing his official head; but his power
was so great and his real services to
the state were so valuable that he was
almost invulnerable in spite of the
many enemies who have always been
ready to accuse him.
There was once a viceroy named
Tsei- -Kwo-Fan who was said to have
died without leaving a single enemy
behind him for, according to his satirl-
cal countrymen, he had killed them al
while he was alive. Early in his pO-
litical career Ii Hung Chang is said
to have followed this illustrious exam
pie, but for many years he has been
too powerful to think it worth while
to pay the slightest attention to his
rivals and opponents, except those
who were so powerful themselves that
he could not with impunity infiict per
scnal vengeance upon them.
One of the greatest sources of
money getting employed by Ii Hung
Chang during the later years of his
career as viccroy was as a money
lender. There is little doubt that he
was the king of pawnbrokers the
world over. His loan offices were scat
tered far and wide over his province,
and he loaned great sums of money on
mortgages and on pledges of person
al property. In country where no
legal rate of interest is fixed this busl-
ness has brought immense returns to
Ii Hung Chang.
No wonder that the old statesman
could not understand the character o1
such a man as Chinese" Gordon, VINO
refused to accept the $15O,OOO which
Il offered him as a reward for his
services in the suppression of the
Taeping rebellion. In his ably pre-
pared official reports on the events OF
this war Ii represented himself, al
Gordon's expense, as the savior of the
throne, and as having secured peace
in the empire; but. on the other hano
he would gladly have bestowed SUB
stantial rewards on the leader u
whose military genius he was indebted
for his success. Gordon was chagrlne'
bv Lis failure to recognize his inval