The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-08-12

MORALS addressed to the throne. which
must pass through the various boards. and
be finally considered by the Great Coun-
Gil.
The country is divided into a large num-
Der Of districts. each about as large as
an English county. known as Hsien; in
each is stationed a magistrate. who has
in his W. hands all the functions, civil
and military (the civil is always supreme
in China. relating to the district. This
hard worked officer is the unit Of the adj
ministrative system, and Is always Chinese.
His task Is no light one. and If he fails to
get on with his people he can expect little
support from the Government. and may
end his career by having his official boots
pulled off the grossest insult that can
be paid himp and being thrown into the
nearest ditch. After such a degradation
future employment by Government is out
of the question. Poorly paid, and with a
host of hangers-on whom he is bound to
maintain If he would preserve his popular
ity. he is obliged to W. resources to sys-
tematic peculation and bribe-taking. The
Chinese language Is full of proverbs about
the corruption of magistrates and other
officials. and the science Of off1cialdom IS
well expressed by the saying: big fish eat
little fish, little fish eat shrimps. shrimps
eat mud" while the underlingS. 1t is said,
scent money as a fly scents blood"
A group of districts makes a department.
governed by a project. who is the court Of
appeal from the magistrates: a group of
departments forms a circuit, at the head
OF which is an intendant of circuit. or Tao
tai. Then comes the Province. whose chief
executive officer Is called Governor. There
are eighteen Of these Provinces in China.
and their size may be imagined when We
remember that their area is more than
thirty times that of Great Britain. and that
each Province on an average contains a
population equal to about half that of the
United Kingdom. Each Province is autono-
nous, having within itself all the machin-
cry of government. 1t administers its own
revenue. provides for its W defense, holds
its own examinations, and performs all its
functions without Interference from the
central Government. There is, however,
one provisO of great Importance. Its Gov
errors and chief officials are appointed from
the capital. to which it has to remit tribute
as its share Of the revenue. While. theo-
retically, literary examination Is the only
avenue to official employment in China, the
dominion at Picking of the Manchus, an
alien race, has been the occasion of evasion
OF this qualification, and the appointment
of men who have not passed the examina-
ton test at all. This is how the Manchus
nave retained their hold upon a vast EN-
rtra yphnca raop1a - fn. frnr, r;nV,J1 30
wards them.
The Governor OF a Province is the only
official who has the right of memorializins
the Throne In his " name. and this gives
him the enormous advantage of being able
to report secretly on his subordinates. His
power, therefore. is immense. and his au-
thority nearly absolute.
There remains still one officer between
the Governor and the Throne, namely the
Governor General, termed Viceroy by the
foreigners. who has sometimes one, and
sometimes two, Provinces under his juris-
diction.
Enormous as are the powers OF these
Governors and Governor Generals, they
have not, except in the case of piracy or of
sedition. the absolute power Of life or death
All death warrants in ordinary cases have
to be signed by the Emperor himself.
The official class in China is not recruited
from any particular rank. the only quail
| fcation being scholarship sufficient to pass
the competitive examinations. The subjects
studied are the classics only. and though
an enormous amount Of learning by rote
is required, no practical knowledge is in
| culcated. and no secialization is allowed,
the examination qualifying a mar to be
the head of a fiscal, naval. judicial or any
other department. 1t Is justly said by the
Chinese themselves that their country is
governed by maxims." and the official In
capacity Of a man whose equipment is
merely a long string Of the sayings of
Confucius leads him to save face by cir
cumlocution. by polite and meaningless
ceremonial. by snifty evasions. by anything
indeed which relieves him from the neces.
: sity of decision or action for the time be-
ing. The impossiblity for one an-es
ciaily one man with such a tr~aining-com-
binins so many functions in his own per-
son is obvious: and In the face of any seri-
] Gus difficulty the government generally
breaks down, and the officials. unable to
longer prevaricate, prove their incapacity