Upon the return of Dr. Sun to power in Canton early in 1923 an enormous sum of money was required for the upkeep of his military and civilian followers, and in order to raise the funds he was forced to sanction the nationalization of all Cantonese temples and allied institutions. The ground for the action was that these institutions of the people were either constructed by popular subscriptions or on appropriations of the Government and that they were, therefore, common property; and that to utilize the proceeds from common property for conducting a war against the common enemy was altogether reasonable and legitimate. The priests, monks, nuns and all those occupying the confiscated lands and buildings were then granted the preferential right of reclaiming their former holdings within 14 days by a payment of sums of from $120 a cheng upward. As it "was impossible Jess of Owners to Pay His Military and Civil Followers for the police and the municipal authorities to detect and report on all properties availatsle for nationalization, commissions of from eight to twenty per cent. of the sale proceeds were offered to informers. It has been through the careless, and in some cases malicious, information of the professional informers that sometimes a whole block of a whole precinct has been subject to requisition, making it necessary for hundreds and often thousands of property-owners to appear before the clerks of the municipal department of public finance to have their deeds examined. To avoid having their deeds lost or defaced by the clerks, the owners simply show the originals rd leave a photographed copy with the municipality.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.