"From Our Own Correspondent.
Lanchowfu, Kan., Oct. 10.
This is the day of the summit of hypocrisy, when our officials fire guns, gather together, congratulate each other, and feast; when our merchants in every street and lane hang out flags when our scholars and postmen and clerks get a holiday—aiil to commemorate the establishment 12 years ago of a Republic that no one cares for, that no right minded Chinese but mourns over. At 11 am. everybody who is anybody in Lanchow will gather at the Governor's residence. By that hour the Governor, in spite of his heavy opium habit, will be ready to receive them, They will bow to the Governor, and thrice to a photograph of Tsao Kun who, we hear, is now president. Always provided that, they have photograph of him handy. But if not, our Lanchow photographers can surely enlarge a print of him from some old periodical]. So it -will be all right—only, shades of the sages, where is there any sincerity in the whole performance?
Wheat has recently been up to almost Tls. 50 per picul. The reason given is,. that many districts which usually supply Lanchow with grain have this year been cultivating so much opium that they have no wheat to spare. And other districts, where opium has not been grown feel that as they have had no chance to get rich on opium, they may as well make some extra profit on their grain. Again, it will be the city poor who will suffer, and those who failed to make money by opium growing in the summer time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.