The Atlanta constitution., 1900-07-09

,,a. there are over ], ,00) priests in the
eurire who make a beggarly living out Of
Ruddhaism. Bu1.lha has given them
little god for everything. Everything
that concerns their temporal welfare:
nothing for the heart or the i-nmortal
scuI They do not believe In either. The~
saw that there is no future life. but II
there is then good conduct In this life
will ensure safety in that II 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
ard let him stand in the burning sun
until II does rain. They want him to sea
and feel how hot II IS. If the rain comes
too much and lasts too long and the rice
IS sprouting In the fields they get their
SQUIRT guns and drench the rain god every
day until he stops the pour down. We
clght to have had him over here this
June and put our Cinnamon to work on
him.
But the government-the government OF
6Oc 600 600 Of people does not cost half as
much as ours with about s0.0O.000. The
per capita tax Is about IS cents, and all
taxes are paid N rice. China has no
bonded debt. No revenue from whisky
or wine, for none is distilled or drank.
Nothing Is in her way of peace and con-
tontment save foreigners and opium I
do not know what IS the salary of the
emreror or empress. but all salaries are
srall. The prince who is to succeed the
emperor gets only $4,000 per annum. Then
there are thousands and thousands Of
officials I'm every province. from the gov
ernor down. but their pay is small. A
soldier In the standing army gets but
81 per month. That army Is composed
of about 900 900 of men. The emperor has
no arbitrary power. He must conform to
the laws and must advise with his cab.-
net. and behind all is the great beard
of control that represents the people and
is made up of two or more learned and
good men from every province This
beard does not act often or on trifies. but
when any great emergency crises they
meet at Pekin and their word controls
the emperor and everybody else. That
Is not a bad government, is it2 The en-
yeror is entitled to an impress and two
other wives who called queens II
the empress leaves no son. then a 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 1t might make
him arrogant.
Another peculiar and democratic pro
vision of the constitution Is that the no
bility shall not always be nobility. Ev-
cry generation IS reduced in rank and
rover down TO the seventh. and then they
become as the common people This
keeps the nobility on the down grade and
keeps the government from being overrun
by pampered aristocracy. That's good
Yes. II is better than the English law OF
primo-geniture. which gives all rank and
the home estate to the eldest son and
tells the others to go to grass l saw
a number of the grass fellows in Florida
On the whole, L like -he Chinese gov
ernment and 1 have respect for the peO-
pie. Bret Harte wrote
''That for ways that are dark
And tricks that are vain,
The heather Chine IS peculiar"
Yes. 1 expect Bret was trying to wa
their money and they won his.
This is enough If geography. have
written IL for Kirby Anderson and Bert
Morgan and their sort. Paul Akin called
cur little g.andchild to come out on the
verandah and kiss him goodnight. She
had put on her night gown and said TO
her mother: Mamma, Paul doesn't know
any better, does he?' There are good
many big school boys who know no moro
about china than Kirby.
BILL ARP.