Under the present odd way of doing things in China military officials con stantly fill their pockets with money derived from having dummy names on their rolls, so that when the time suddenly arrives when their services are needed by the Government, in nine cases out of ten each regimental commander finds himself with only two-fifths of his proper number ready for active service, while the ammunition which he supposed to have stored up ready for uso is generally non est, having been already secretly sold to agents of brigand chiefs, desperadoes and salt smugglers only these sources (the govern-stores) to go to for their gunpowder and cartridges. This sorry state of affairs is of course duo to the niggardly policy and mistaken economy of the Imperial Government in paying their officers and soldiers; and only such Viceroys s Chang Chih-tung and Yuan Shih-kai, who regularly pay and properly clothe, feed, and arm their own troops, are able to call out the proper number of men when they wish to do #0, other high provincial officials being compelled to be satisfied with makeshifts, for the nonce, when they receive orders from Peking to be pre-like the present crisis ports that Viceroy Wei of that city found himself badly handicapped by his military officers in just the manner noted above, when commanded the other day by Imperial Rescript to send up ten to as fifteen thousand well-armed men to the North, and to have ready at least 50,000 men for any kind of emergency, in view of the war between Japan and Russia. After much trouble laughable, if not piteous, to relate, it is now stated that some 40,000 men have been mobilised by the military officials of this province, ut to keep them up to the mark and compel them to have the full roster in their respective regiments, Viceroy Wei has had to send confidential deputies. of Paotai rank constantly to the various camps to call the rolls at all hours of the day and night.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.