Rival Chieftains in Every Region:
Debased Coinage: Moham-
From Our Own Correspondent, Lanchow, Kansu, Dec. 14.
To return to Kansu_ after absence of two years is indeed a pleasure. There are many old friends to see and much to hear, but yet great changes have occurred recently, and not all for good. The swarm of rapacious Anhui officials that battened on the province in the days of the late Governor Chang Kuang-chien are for the most part scattered. He himself, after leaving Kansu. was in residence for a time in Peking. Now we hear that he has to flee from Peking, and that his property has been confiscated as fe is said to have taken sides with Chang Tso-lin, the "feudal baron" of Mukden, So that now in Kansu, instead of having one strongly entrenched central authority, the province is divided up to all intents and purposes into four or more districts, each under a military ruler, who acts as he likes and preserves the merest vestige of obedience.
To begin with the capital Lanchow. Here we have Gen. Lu as general commandant of the province. He seems to wield a limited power even in this district, and to have fallen on rather evil days. For his predecessor, Chang Kuang-chien, and his satellite bled Lanchow more completely and thoroughly than had ever been known before, so there has not been much left for Lu. The currency went to pieces some months ago, and Lu started making copper coins of the face value of 20 cash, out of the old strings of cash. It was so profitable an undertaking, that many a lonely place in the country far from prying eyes followed his example, and we are now flooded with these debased coins. The profit at one time on this undertaking stood, I: believe, at about 800 per cent. The old paper currency has fallen to 30 per cent. of its face value, and we hear that new paper notes are on their way from Peking to redeem them. Paper to redeem paper!
In Lanchow there is also now a Civil Governor, who, if he had more real power, might perhaps be looked to as a check on the gross militarists. But as the real power lies with the man who has the troops, his office must be somewhat of a sinecure. 7 In the south of Kansu, there is Gen. Kong, who carries everything before him with a high hand. He is energetic in making roads, and, perhaps, that should stand to his credit. For the rest, he encourages. the growing of opium to enrich his district and thereby himself. He also makes a coinage of his own. If these voiners were treated as they deserve, and as they now treat the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.