The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-09-30
Fl N AN CE HEAD
 IN CHINA IS HARD JOB
Military Chiefs Demand Coin and Arrest Minis ter if Not Forthcom- ing.

Picking, Sept. 30.-Bef1lg Minister of Finance in Peking is about the most unpleasant job in the Chinese Republic. Of the last three Ministers the first has been declared an enemy of the Republic, has been diVested of all his properties and decorations and is a fugitive in the foreign con sessions at Tienstin. The second was Harvard man and with his erudi- tion gained with the class of 1910 at Cambridge, served his country to the best of his ability: He is now in for treason while the last Minister. and the one who succeeded him, an eminent jurist, famed for his wisdom and honesty, is in the hospital recov- ering from injuries sustained at the. hands of an angry mob of unpaid of ficials Since then the position has been vacant and, although advertised, cording to an eye witness the papers awaiting the next Minister are piled up like vast ranges of mountains"
 Money Is Scarce.
 Of the conpplexity of Chinese poli- tics the one present outstanding fea- ture is the financial stringency. As the available national incame is usually seized at the source by the various feudal military chiefs and used for their own purposes, there is nothing left to pay the officials or Therefore the railroads. the Govern ment mines. etc, yield less gross rev. enue each year, so that the strWegle for Government funds is steadily in- creasing.
 A Minister of Finance becomes, in | short, the procurer of funds for the particular military chief who con- trolS the situation. How he gets the money does not much snatter, and he formerly had the choice of mak- ing a loan on any security and at any concessions. The advent of the con- sortium stopped the irresponsible making of loans and made the task of Minister of Finance infinitely harder.
 | Perhaps the most unfortunate of | the holders of the Finance Portfolio | was the next to the last Minister | Chung Shih-ming, Harvard 10. Chung | but his chief, Chang Hu, was exposed in a particularly nefarious loan he was negotiating in the interests of his military chiefs and had to flee to for eign soil for safety. That left Chung In office and a. hungry group Of mill itarists demanding pay, not to mem | tion the various officials and school teachers. What little money there was went into the hands of the mili- tarists or to the payment of the Pe- king police. who might have exposed months back pay was not made Sup.
 TEACHERS DEMAND PAY One day Minister Chung was sur- the Finance Ministry by a determined group of Government school teachers who had not been paid for three months
 "Our families are starving" they | cried. we must have some money'' l In. spite of the fact that the Mini ster assured them that he had no money and was doing the best he could to get some, they would not | leave. At p. m. he offered to pay | them one-fourth of the amount due and to make up the rest in install ments. They refused and te1ephoned the Ministry of Education and more teachers arrived. At midnight the Min ister weakened and finallyj com promised by giving them a third of what was due and a check for the bal 2 ance The Minister was permitted to | go home in safety but the next morn ing when the check was presented to the bank 1t was returned mo funds. | Later Chung could not raise the l money desired by the war lords and his protection was withdrawn, Ieav- ing him open to political enemies, who easily found enough irregulari- ties tD condemn him. He is now in prison awaiting further trial.
 1 The Minister who succeeded him Tung Rang was paragon of honesty. a noted jurist and a thinker of leisure who knew little of finance. An angry mob of unpaid officials finished hina. No. there is no minister.