Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-01-11

WIZ NO az tilb JUG ul1Iio III "tiihihShobs
At a meeting of the congregation of
the election for five members of the
MS follows: The 1T. Rev. John j.
Lyons, the Rev. Edward L. Brady,
Aquilla NJ. Hizer and Patrick McGrory.
WEALTH OF III HUSG CHANG.
Some Of the Ways IN " Eich II Accumulated
Ii Hung Chang, the most conspicu-
Gus Chinese of the age, is often called
the richest mau in the world. This
assertion 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
millions is purely conjeotural II 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 ef Marking and Pechili.
The Statcsman's Year Book says that
Chinese politicians prefer to be gov
errors or viceroys Of provinces rather
than hold Office under the general gov
eminent, owing to the superior oppor-
tunities they have for getting rich
while at the head of the provincial
governments. This is stating the case
mildly, for the politicians of any vest
ern governments who could amass
fortunes by the devious methods en-
ployed by many of the Chinese yiceroys
would be called bocdlers and plunderers
of the public treasury. Ii 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 longer head than most viceroys
and a very keen eye for the main chance
he is supposed to have accumulated a
much larger fortune than any other
viceloy. M
One way in which Ii for many years
made an enoromus sum of money was
to use thousands of soldiers in his own
private enterprises without paying them
a cent for their labor. In the course
of time he purchased 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 CT 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 lice
fields, and they had to be content with
the rations 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 government for
army rations at an enormous profit,
and pocketed a handsome iake-off on
all other supplies furnished to the
tens of thousands Of soldiers in the
Fechili 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 sJream of gold that poured
into his strong box through this chan
mel. 1t has long been notorious that
| one of the methods he employed was to
import large quantities Of goods through
his agents without the payment of q
cent of duty and then sell the goods at
round figure to his countrymen. This
method of money making finally in
charges were made against him, and
he came near losing his official head,
| but his power was SO great that he
| the many enemies who have always
| been ready to accuse him.
There was once viceroy named
Tsei- Fan, who was said to have
died without leaving single enemy
behind him, for, according to his satiri-
cal countrymen, he had killed them all
while he was alive. Early in his
| political career Ii Hung Chang is said
| to have followed this illustrious ex-
ample, but fol 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 IMMUNITY infiict personal
vengeance upon them.
One of the greatest sources Of money
| getting employed by Ii Hung Chang
during the later years of his career rs
viceroy was as a money lender. There
is little doubt that he was the king OF
pawnbrokeis the world over. His loan
offices were scattered fan and wide over
his province, and he loaned great sums
of money on mortgages and on pledges
Of personal property. In country
where no legal rate is fixed this bust
ness has brought enormous returns to
Ii Hung Chang.
No wonder that the old statesman
could not understand the character of
such man as "Chiuese" Gordon, who
refused to accept the Sl50,0o0 which
Ii offered him as reward for his ser
vices in the suppression of the Tapping
rebellion. In his ably prepared official
reports on the events CT this war Iii
represented himself, at Gordon's ex-
pense, as the savior of the throne. and
as having secured peace in the empire,
but, on the other hand, he would gladly
have bestowed substantial rewards on
the leader to whose military genius he
was indebted for his success. Gordon
was cbagrined by Lis failure to recog-
nize his invaluable aid in the reports
he seut to Pekin, and his wrath was
only aggravated by the offer of money.
Tie British soldier left the country in
high dudgeon, but when he revisited
China, 10 years later, he had for
gotten his bitterness Of feeling and
met his old comrade with cordially
and warmth.