北洋政府时期的地方公债探析

A Study on the Local Bonds During the Period of Northern Warlords Government

北洋政府时期,大小军阀各霸一方,连年混战,财源枯竭,地方财政陷于困境。为维持庞大的军费开支,各地方政府除截留国税、增加苛捐杂税外,还募债以资挹注。这一时期江西、浙江等17省(区、市)发行的14 579.96万元地方公债中超过66%被用于军政费用,弥补财政不敷;其余债款则用于兴办实业、筑路修桥、赈灾善后和整理金融,对发展地方事业、稳定地方金融起到了一定的积极作用。

During the rule of the Northern Warlords Government, there were constant wars among warlords, and military expenditure became an overwhelming burden and made local financial revenue decreased rapidly. To settle the fiscal difficulties, local governments resorted to every conceivable means to increase revenue, such as withholding the national tax, establishing new items of local taxes, and issuing local bonds. For lack of archives, there has been scant research on the local bonds during the rule of Northern Warlords Government. A study on the fiscal archives during that period shows that 17 provinces or cities issued 145,799,600 yuan of local bonds. The top 6 provinces were Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhili, which accounted for more than 72G of the total amount of local bonds issued during that term. About 24.95 % of the money （36,384,100 yuan） covered military expenditure, about 24. 57 （35,817,000 yuan） made up the fiscal deficit, and about 17.18% （25,054,000 yuan） were used for the repayment of old debts. As most governors at that time controlled not only the army, but also the administration and judiciary, it is indisputable that about 66. 7% of local bonds （97,255,100 yuan） were used for military expenditure. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that a large amount of the local bonds of the Northern Warlords Government ＂served the warlords in their fights, and had a distinct feudal military nature＂. On the other hand, since the Northern Warlords Government was a transitional period from a traditional Chinese society to a modern one, the issuing of local bonds was historically progressive. Firstly, compared with forced borrowing, blackmail and prepaying, the issue of bonds by the local government to cover military and government expenditure was undoubtedly a kind of progress, because bonds were conducive to the establishment of the concept of credit and the credit system, which was in accordance with the development of modern finance. Secondly, although 66% of the local bonds were used for military expenditure and made up the fiscal deficit, about 8% （11,644,500 yuan） went to industry and construction. About 22,800,000 yuan （15. 64% of the total amount） were issued under the name of ＂relief funds＂ to help the refugees who escaped from the war or suffered from famine. Such local bonds should be viewed positively. Thirdly, local bonds played an important role in the establishment of local banks and the stability of local finance. In the early years of the Republic of China, every province was faced with financial difficulties. To solve this problem, most of the provinces established local banks to absorb funds. In addition, the local political power changed frequently, resulting in inefficient management and corruption. To cope with the frequent demands of advance payment from the local government, the banks resorted to the issuance of currency as its main business, resulting in inflation, run on bank, and disturbance to the local financial market. To maintain its effective rule after the financial crisis, the local government had to take emergency measures such as bonds issuing. This kind of local bonds were used for local finance stability. The establishment of local banks amounted to 14,100,000 yuan （about 9.67% of the total amount of this term）. Objectively speaking, these bonds stabilized the local financial market to a certain extent.