The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-08-15

by foreigners who knew him Intimately
to be $45,000,00O. Still he remained in
imperial favor, and In 1872 came his
eliminating triumph, when he was
made viceroy of Pc Chi Ii. the imperial
province, with palace in the royal
city, and practically the collection of
all the national funds under his control.
Here he evolved n peculiar method
0f semi-moral squeezing. His emis-
sarles visited every province regularly
and took good care to guard the mass
of the people from cxtortion nt the
hands Of the mandarins. An officer
found guilty of demanding or accept
ing more than the set amount OF tax
alton was promptly dismissed from
his office in disgrace. III Hung Chang
saw that with such an enormous popu-
the individual with heavy taxes. He
insisted on one-half of every tax being
turned into his hands, and one-half
of these receipts he handed over In
turn to the imperial treasury, keeping
the balance for himself.
It, The emperor, happy in the fact
that never before had he found q man
who could drag such enormous sums
out of the hands of the mandarins.
was more than satisfied with the
share that came to him, and he knew
very well that his minister was divid-
ing equally with him.
As viceroy of Pc Chi Ii, Ii Hung
Chang started to build navy. lie
let contracts for ships, armaments
and dockyards, and, beginning to
mngle with Europeans in this way.
soon came to see vista of new posi-
bilities for the acquiring Of wealth.
He was chief promoter and is today
principal owner of the China Mer-
chants Steam Navigation company.
the only native steamship line In eX-
istence. with monopoly of all inter
nal and most of the coast traffic
The fluctuations in the value Of sill
yer gave him a chance for the accumu-
lation of more millions by skilful man
ipulation of deposits in the great
Hongkong bank. of which he Is now
one of the largest shareholders. In
1877 the members of the diplomatic
corps at Pelxin presented a memoran-
dun to the emperor begging for the
establishment Of an exact system OF
coinage. The viceroy told them plainly
that he would see about It He has
been seeing about 1t ever since.
The sale of titles and honors n re-
cognized perqulsite of the viceroy of
Pc Chi Iii. was in his hands for several
years. and his policy was to charge
''all the traffic would bear to mer-
chants who were able and willing to
pay for handles to their names or the
right to wear gold buttons on their
caps In 1894. when he became COM
nander in chief Of the Chint Sc forces,
he was "yisited" by dozens of
contractors, but it may be said to his
credit that he listened to none of their
advances, possibly because their "offi-
ces" were so small in comparison
with his vast wealth that he chose to
overlook them; possibly too because
he wished to give them the Idea that
he was not man who could be
bought.
In addition to the many sources OF
revenue mentioned he has had per
centages of very large customs duties,
the export silk tax, the jade mines
and municipal earnings Of many
cities. No one In the empire can ap-
proach Ii Hung Chang IN the hold he
has on the common people In China.
They know of his great riches. but
they also know that for 40 years he
has stood between them and the eX-
tortions of petty mandarlns.
His fortune is an accumulation OF
mites and atoms.