to the thief who gets caught--his punishment is
short and sharp. Litigation is not encouraged, even by such facilities
as ought to be given to persons suffering wrongs; there is no bar, or
legal profession, and persons who assist plaintiffs or defendants in
the conduct of cases, are treated with scant courtesy by the presiding
magistrate and are lucky if they get off with nothing worse. The
majority of commercial cases come before the guilds, and are settled
without reference to the authorities. The ordinary Chinese dread a court
of justice, as a place in which both parties manage to lose something.
"It is not the big devil," according to the current saying, "but the
little devils" who frighten the suitor away. This is because official
servants receive no salary, but depend for their livelihood on
perquisites and tips; and the Chinese suitor, who is a party to the
system, readily admits that it is necessary "to sprinkle a little
water."

Neither do any officials in China, high or low, receive salaries,
although absurdly inadequate sums are allocated by the Government for
that purpose, for which it is considered prudent not to apply. The
Chinese system is to some extent the reverse of our own. Our officials
collect money and pay it into the Treasury, from which source fixed sums
are returned to them as salaries. In China, the occupants of petty posts
collect revenue in various ways, as taxes or fees, pay themselves as
much as they dare, and hand up the balance to a superior officer, who in
turn pays himself in the same sense, and again hands up the balance to
his superior officer. When the viceroy of a province is reached, he too
keeps what he dares, sending up to the Imperial exchequer in Peking just
enough to satisfy the powers above him. There is thus a continual check
by the higher grade upon the lower, but no check on such extortion
as might be practised upon the tax-payer. The tax-payer sees to that
himself. Speaking generally, it may be said that this system, in spite
of its unsatisfactory character, works fairly well. Few officials
overstep the limits which custom has assigned to their posts, and those
who do generally come to grief. So that when the dishonesty of the
Chinese officials is held up to reprobation, it should always be
remembered that the financial side of their public service is not
surrounded with such formalities and safeguards as to make robbery of
public money difficult, if not almost impossible