The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-11
services of his daughter, his son, his wife or
of the entire family.

services Of bis daughter, his son, his wife or |
of the entire family.
THE PASSAGE HITHERwABD.
After the usual examination by the United
States officials, whose duty it is to prevent
what is called ''coolie slavery" the men em-
bark for their voyage. None but healthy
persons are taken on board the steamers, and
although they refuse to take medicine at the
hands of any physician other than of their
own race, but few deaths occur. Their time
is dissipated IN gambling, opium-smoking, or
in other methods which the genius of the
Chinese mind invents to while away the
tedious hours of a voyage at sea. l am
speaking now of the passage on board the
steam ers With sailing vessels the case is
sometimes different In some instances a
large percentage have died from the effects
of bad food and insufficient ventilation. The
law of the United States has so regulated the
emigrant traffic that United States consul
will not clear q vessel that is crowded beyond
a healthy and comfortable limit. But many
sailing vessels, after obtaining a clearance
from the Consul-General at Hong Kong,
heave to in the straits below that city and
take on board a large number of coolies, sent
down in small boats for that purpose. The
coolies have no thought of disease, and will
lingly crowd into the vessel as long as the
officers will receive them. 1t is in the interest
of the owners of such ships that false circu-
lars are sent into the country, while the food
and accommodation which the passengers get
may be said to be in an inverse ratio to the
alluriDg promises made to them in the
placards.
HUMAN SLAVERY.
1t has often been stated by writer's upon
China that slavery in that country was a very
'mild form of servitude;" and their conclu-
sion is usually reached by comparison of
the coolie in state of slavery with his con-
dition before he became a bondman. This
would be correct inference if the previous
condition of the coolie was state of freedom;
for the status of slave in China is but very
little lower than that of the lowest class of
free coolies, while in some instances the for
mer condition is far preferable to the latter.
To be slave is to be the property of some
rich man, who, although he has absolute con-
| troll OF the laborer, will take some little care
| to provide sufficient food and clothing to keep
! him in a working condition. To be free
laborer is to be subject to the same oondi-
tions which hamper the action of slave, while,
with the wages he receives he cannot
| provide himself with the necessities of life,
nor obtain the smallest portion of the care
which is bestowed upon the slave. Such
being the case, the state of absolute slavery
| is but single step downwards, and has ad-
vantages which make it 'mild" indeed. But
when we consider the condition of the higher
! classes, whose sons have the advantages of
schools and social training, and to whom all
the best offices in the empire are open, and
afterwards glance down at the degradation
which marks the features and behavior of the
slave and his children, Colonel Conwell con-
cludes that, instead of being a 'mild" state
of slavery, it is the very worst. The slave
in China is whipped, branded, put in stocks
and pillories and otherwise matreated
as often as were the African slaves in
the Southern States of the American
Union. They have as hard tasks to perform,
as little of the Injuries of life, and are nearly
as often separated from their families as were
the bondmen in the English colonies. In
China it is not considered respectable for a
master to sell husband away from his whole
family, although the girls may be sold at any
time. Neither is it fashionable to keep q
male slave after he is thirty years of age
without purchasing wife for him. But, if
native evidence is trustworthy, the observance
of this moral law is the exception rather than
the rule. The male slave is a valuable piece
of property, and the heathen master is more
apt to use it in the way which will return the
greatest dividend, without regard to morality
or suffering, than is the slave owner in civil
lied lands.
| FEMALE PROSTITUTION
The worst features of Chinese bondage are
seen in the dealings with females. The wo-
men in China, among all classes, are at the
best but low order of slaves. They are
salable things, and the circumstances of the
parents always determine their value. If the
parents feel at the birth of a daughter that
there will not be demand for girls owing to
the pre- pondersnce in the neighborhood of male
children, they do not hesitate to strangle or
drown the helpless human being who was SO
unlucky as to be born female. In their
best estate the girls are uneducated, and con-
sequently immoral and are treated like
useless, intruding dogs until they become
grandmothers, when, in accordance with some
strange superstition, they are treated with
much reverence and generosity. Heu ses OF
prostitution are found in every town and
village, however small, and city bawdy- houses
are almost numberless. These are usually
filed with daughters whose fathers sold them
into slavery, either on account of poverty Oh
ON mere speculation. The vast number OF
these houses, and the astonishingly low price
(from twenty-five to fifty dollars for hand
some girl of sixteen) which the girls bring in
the market, is conclusive proof of the great
prevalence of this kind of female slavery
No statistics of the number of females pur.
chased for servitude or prostitution have
been left to judge by private information,
some having placed the number as high as
ten per cent. of the female population and
others as low as one per cent. But they all
agree that in late years it has been surpris
ingly on the increase
|