The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-09-13
TRAITS OF Ii HUNG CHANG.
John c. FergussOn's Experience
of Chinese Officials.
Task Before LII Too Great for HIS Years
Diplomats Trained by Him Cum
ming and Deceit of Chinese DtPIO-
macy VicerOys' Paper Army
Official Corruption.

ming and Deceit of Chinese DipIO-
macy VicerOys' Paper Army
Official Corruption.
San Francisco, Aug 27.-In this cos
mopolitan city are people who have a
singularly minute knowledge of men
and things in the Chinese Empire.
Among these is John G. Ferguson,
civil engineer, who spsnt more than
twenty years In the service gof the In
perial government. He was in charge
of the construction of the first railway
in China, which ran from Taku up the
Peiho river to large copper mine about
forty miles distant. At that time China
had not begun to go In for foreign Inn
provements as she has Within the last
few years. Mr.. Ferguson found the
Chinese officials quick to see the advan-
tages of foreign machinery, but they
frankly admitted that the masses were
not educated to the point of accepting
the hated "foreign devils 4" improve
ments.
Mr.. Ferguson, as the manager Of large
works calling for the expenditure Of
much money. was brought into close re
lations with various Chinese officials. He
found the only way to secure any results
was to Insist upon his own way, and
also upon rigid honesty In accounts.
In this way it became noised about that
when he demanded supplies or men
these must be forthcoming or he would
give the INDECENT taotais no peace until
they were produced. It was also found
that he insisted upon honesty in ac-
counts, and therefore no tricks to hold
out commissions were tried upon him.
BY this system hs secured the confidence
and respect of the officials. He knew Until
matey LII Hung Chang, Taotai Sheng
and several other Vtceroys and Cover
nors. OF Hung Chang, who now occu-
pies so conspicuous a position, he said
today in talking of the outlook for a
peaceable settlement of the Chinese
problem:
1.-The man is too old to do any good
service for China or for the Powers, He
is over So and very intirm. The work
before him would try the energies and
the diplomatic skill of man in his
prime. Besides, the foreign diplomats
III Aulud nave uD COun0clACc III O10 LIZ
lie has been mixed up in so many scan
dals that no one would accept his word
/ in regard to any matter. He is type Of
/ the Chinese official who finds it to his
advantage to profess admiration for for
eign things, yet who at the same time
hates Europeans because they have
4 Wrested power and wealth from his cOun-
+ try. His best service has been the train
ing of a number of very able young men
Tor the diplomatic field. Wa Ting-fang,
the Chinese Minister at Washington, and
4 LO Feng Huh, the Chinese Minister at
London, are both graduates Of his school.
! They served in his Yamen, and their re-
ward was high official pIeferment.
The ablest Of these prObeges of old III
is IaOtai Sheng OF Shanghai. Sheng Is
an unusually handsome Chinese. with a
/ broad open forehead, and he reveals few
traces or the Monaghan except In the
setting of his eyes, He impresses you al
once as a man of the world. His man
ners are exquisite, and his courtesy Is
proverbial, but he has been guilty Of
breaking many promises, and In the Gun
ming game OF diplomacy he is an expert
IL III is permitted to carry on negOtia
tiOns for the Chinese Government it viii
be Sheng who VIII do the heavy WOrh
for his old master. lie has great capacity,
but his record shows that he is absolute
ly without scruples and that his rapaci-
/ ty far exceeds that Of the ordinary Chi
nese official of nigh rank. He has been
exposed again and again, but old ii II
each case has shielded him from disgrace
and ruin.
1T is impossible to convince any Chi
nese Of the value of time or Of honesty
in any diplomatic negotiations. Gun
ming is the chief weapon and they will
attempt to use this IN sowing discussions
among the powers. Perhaps the strongest
card the foreign ENJOYS can play Will be
the stoppage OF the tribute rice which al
81 Dc r.~~t~f
parts of the Empire to the Imperial gran
airy. Without this rice It would be i'm.
possible to maintain the small army OF
officials and hangers-on about the I'm.
perial court, and hence 1t would be a
good stroke to tie up these loads of trib
ute rice until the government agrees to
make reparation for its recent acts
Nothing produces greater excitement In
China in official circles than the stop
page OF the tribute rice, for the yamens
contain hundreds of officials who must
be fed and to buy this rice would require
a very long purse.
England hold upon China has been
the rich trade Of the Yangtse Valley,
which is worth all the rest of the EN-
pire. If England can retain her grasp on
the Yangts5 she can afford to see large
territory granted to the other powers, for
she Will still come out the victor. No
one has any idea of the resources OF this
great valley, whose trade has only fairly
begun to be exploited In fact, this val
ley alone is richer than the whole OF
South Africa and properly handled viii
bring in much larger revenue.
When / was in China 1 frequently
pointed out TO diplomatic officials the fol-
" of training the Chinese In arms, The
people are good natural fighters il they
have any confidence in their officers, but
from the way the Chinese army has. been
handled it is a wonder that any lighting
can be got out Of it. A governor of a
province is supposed to maintain SO many
men, but when L was in China not one
of these fellows, except Ii Hung Chang,
in efficient condition. Here is the way
the thing is managed. The Viceroy or
Shantung, for instance, is supposed to
have 3, GOO men under arms. He actually
has this number on the books and draws
! q few cnnle lau for. aanh and nntlor a