ther with the pressure of other
needs--such as the cost of education and the army--made more manifest
than previously the chaos of the Chinese fiscal system. A scheme to
reform the national finances was promulgated under an edict of the 11th
of January 1909, but it did not appear to be of a practical character.

_Sources of Revenue_. I. _Land Tax_.--In China, as in most oriental
countries, the land has from time immemorial been the mainstay of the
revenue. In the early years of the present dynasty there was levied
along with the land tax a poll tax on all adult males, but in 1712 the
two were amalgamated, and the whole burden was thrown upon land,
families not possessing land being thereafter exempted from taxation.
At the same time it was decreed that the amount of the land tax as
then fixed should be permanent and settled for all time coming. It
would appear from the records that this promise has been kept as far
as the central government has been concerned. In all its many
financial difficulties it does not seem ever to have tried to increase
the revenue by raising the land tax. The amount of tax leviable on
each plot is entered on the title deed, and, once entered, it cannot
be changed.[45] The tax on almost all lands is thus stated to be so
much in silver and so much in rice, wheat or whatever the principal
crop may be. Except in two provinces, however, the grain tax is now
commuted and paid in silver. The exceptions are Kiang-su and
Cheh-kiang, which still send forward their taxes in grain. The value
of the grain forwarded (generally called tribute rice) is estimated at
taels 6,500,000. The total collection in silver, as reported by the
responsible officials, amounts in round numbers to taels 25,000,000.
The total yield of the land tax, therefore, is taels 31,500,000, or
say L4,725,000. It will readily be granted that for such a large
country as China this is a very insignificant one. In India the land
tax yields about L20,000,000, and China has undoubtedly a larger
cultivated area, a larger population, and soil that is on the whole
more fertile; but it is certain that this sum by no means represents
the amounts actually paid by the cultivators. It is the sum which the
various magistrates and collectors have to account for and remit in
hard cash. But as nothing is allowed them for the costs of collection,
they add on a percentage beforehand to cover the