Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-24

out to the various officials that each
should give the old lady q present an!
money rolled in from all parts of China
Altogether something like seventy mil
lion dollars was sent to Picking.
This was about the time of the Chinese
Japanese war. and some of the money
was spent to pay the expenses of that
calamitOus struggle The then bad condi-
t1On of the Chinese navy is said to have
been partially due to the avarice of the
old empress. AS the story goes, the gov
eminent had set aside S15 .G0o. 900 for new
warships. The old dowager said it was a
pity to waste so much money that way.
and She took the naval appropriation and
built new palace. The officials remon-
strated. They said the money had been
voted for the navy and must be accounted
for.
THAT is easy enough" replied the great
doWager, and she straightway had carved
on the gates of her new buildings an in
scription which read: These are the pal
aces of the navy"
Since the Empress Dowager died have
heard many stories about her majesty's
champion squeeZer, the famous eunuch
Ii Lien Wing. He was for long time
her body servant, and later her min
lister of finance and collector of brides
He invested her moneys for her in pawn
shops, and in loans at high rates. and at
the same time took such goodIy rake-Off
for himself that he is now said to be
worth tens of millions of dollars.
NO one outside China can appreciate the
bribery connected with public office.
Every official who came to the palace had
to pay something to this cobbler's son.
and even Ii Hung Chang was once held
up outside the gates for three days be-
cause he would not submit to his eX-
agant demands. ! am told that it
cost to pay the palace expenses during
the life of the dowager something like
thirty million dollars a year, and d great
deal of this came from such squeezes.
Wien the treasury grew low the doWager
collectors. Travelled from
official to official over the empire and de-
manded gifts. One of these collectors
was named kangYi He was sent on a
squeezing tour south. having been Oruer-
ed to bring back at least two hundred
thousand ounces of silver. When kang
vi visited Shanghai he demanded that the
Chinese Merchant Steamship Company
then under the control of Sheng kung-
Pao. should pay the government two
hundred thousand dollars per year. Sheng
complained that the business would not
stand 1t. and compromised az half the
The viceroys of Marking and WI
chang We're heavily bled by Kang VI as
were also those of Tientsn and Canton
The squeezing i'm the latter place was
probably aided by brother of l.. Hung
Chang. who was official there He
was friend of the dowager. and he
squeezed so much that the people nick
named him THE Bottomless Bag
One hears all sorts of stories about the
empress dowaSer. All acknowledge her
ability and say she will rank among the
great queens of all time. There is no
question as to her strength OF character
Some eXalt her to the skies as an angel
of mercy and light while others say she
was a demon incarnate. and they COM
pare her private life to that of the Rus
sian empress Catherine the Great. AS to
her demoniac character, her detractors
say she poisoned her husband. the En-
peror HSien FenS, and thereby became
ruler in connection with another empress
whom he married before her. They sus-
pect that the death of that empress was
caused by the dOWarer's Vaccinations
and plots. who then reigned supreme dur
ing the minority of her son, the Emperor
Tung Chieh. who was baby when
chosen.
When Tung Chieh had reached the
age of fifteen, att which time he might
smallpc=, and there some malicious
enough to say that his mother. the en-
press dowager, assisted him on the fairy
ride to a far country. They allege that
he had begun to resist her domino
ton and that the smallpox was really
an overdose of opium pills. They say
also that after his death the suicide OF
his wife. the empress who threw herself
into WELL was assisted by this same
great woman. and that other crimes of a
) similar nature may be laid to her charge.
Take, for instance, a story which is
whispered among the officials here 1T
Picking. 1t relates to Kwang-Su. the late
emperor. and to a favorite concubine of
his whom the great dowager thought was
melting him TO rebel against her. She