The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-11

Arp Talks About Days When He Was
Young.
Atlanta Constitution.

Buddha could stop it.
Now as to tnat great Buddha, ny
reading tells me that the common peo-
pie DO not express any great alteration
for him nor faith in him? AS DR..
johnson remarked TO Boswell. 'it is
necessary for every nation to have
some religion, whether they under
stand it or not, and hence the super
stition 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 unwavcring faith in him. And
yet there are over 100000 priests in
the empire who make bcggarly living
out of Buddhism. Buddha has given
them little god for everything.
Everything that concerns their tenn
poral welfare; nothing for the heart or
the immortal soul. They do not be.
lievc in either. They say that there
is no future life, but if there is then
good conduct in this life will ensure
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 burning sun un-
til is 1ces rain. They want him to see
and feel how net it is Ie :ho rain
comes too much and lasts too long and
the rice is sprouting in the fields they
get their squirt guns and drcnch the
rain god every day until he stops the
pour down. We ought to have had
him over here this June and put our
Cinnamon to work on him.
But the governmcnt-thc govern
ncnt OF 60O, 900, 900 of people does not
cost half as much as ours, with about
80,0OO,O0O The per capita tax is
about 75 cents, and all taxes are paid
in rice, China has no bonded debt.
No revenue from whisky or wine, for
none is distilled Oh drank. Nothing
is in her way Of peace and content
mcnt save foreigners and opium.
do not know what is the salary of the
emperor or empress, but all salaries
are small. The prince who is to sue.
ceed the emperor gets only $4,000 per
annum. Then there are thousands
and thousands Of officials in every
province, from the governor down, but
their pay is small. A soldier in the
standing army gets but 81 per month.
That army IS composed of about L.
600, 900 of men. The emperor has no
arbitrary power. He must conform to
the laws and must advise with his
cabinet, and behind all is the great
board Of control that represents the
people and is made up Of two or '-are
learned snd good men from every r.-7-
ince. This board does not act often
or on trifes, but when any great emer-
geucy arises they meet at Pekin and
their word controls the emperor and
everybody else. That is not bad
government, is it? The emperor is
entitled to an empress and two other
wives, who are called queens. If the
empress leaves no son, then 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 he was chosen it might
make him arrogant.
Another peculiar and democratic
provision of the constitution is that
the nobility shall not always be nobil-
ity. Every generation is reduced in
rank and power down to the seventh,
and then they become as the common
people. This keeps the nobility on
the down grade and keeps the govern
ment from being overrun by pamper-
cd aristooraoy. That's good. Yes, it
is better than the English law of pri-
mo-geniture, which gives all rank and
the home estate to the eldest son and
tells the others to 60 to grass. I saw
enumber of the grass fellows in
Florida.
On the whole, I like the Chinese
government and l have respect for the
people. Bret Harte wrote:
THAT for ways that are dark
And tricks that are win.
The heather Chine is peculiar
Yes, l expect Bret was trying to win
their money and they won his.
This is enough of geography. I
have written it for Kirby Anderson
and Bert Morgan and their sort. Paul
Akin called our little grandchild to
comeuout on the verandah and kiss
him goodnight. She had put on her
night gown and said 60 her mother: