Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-08-28
Hev Cheap is "ChincSe Cheap Labor..''

i'eU Cheap i> ''ChineSe Cheap Labor!,''
 The United States Consul General at Shanghai has been making a sP1e7cislL-ip. yestigation which enables him to llt-e. ( some light on this interesting pictures Skilled labOrefs artisans, VOrk,N of E trades, etc.-liye mostly m the cities, where all prices are higher than outside
 Art and taste, although appreciated. are not paid accordingly. 4 painter may win renoWu, and his name or his sell live after lIiin, but during life he will be no better off than his neighbOr who makes collins Painters Of porcelain. designers and weavers of the most ex- quisite patterns of silk. and the artisan who makes wonderful pieces of enamel or "cEina, are satisfied if they put by enough for burial expenses; the butcher does as vel as any of them. Gold and silvtrsmiths, and others whose work is peculiarly responsible, do a little better; the weaver or spinner oi silk k probably the best paid day laborer. getting Sl to S2 a day. The average pay ol skilled labor is probably S.i a week for a master, Sl Ju for a workman. and 70 cents for ''youugsters or females The master lives generally at his workshop. having from S2J Co 80 worth of household goods; he pays SIP year for food, S:8 for rent and smdrIes, SIP for clothing, and IS rich with S36 left. The ordinary workman, if unmarried, lives with his parents or with some friend. His effects may be wor-h Slj, and he pays S45, SIP and SS for the three items above men, toned. Females and youngsters are as stunned tO cost all they can earn. On the farm everybody must work, the children beginning at SIX years. Two and Ealf acres of arabic land, with a h0use built Of mud and reeds and thatched with straw, and COW, few fowls and pigs, and some very primitive tools, may constitute a weli-tO-dO farmers proper r.. The soil will usually support the family, and twenty cents a day will pay for the food. Rice or bread with vege- tables and common tea, varied by a little poultry or pork on festive occasions makes their iiet. Their bit of land may be worth SiUn their annual working eX- peusss may be SIP, and they will pro- duce about SlGO,leaving about so clear. In cotton the land will average IGOO pounds at ] cents; cost or cultivation and tax, S3l: ntt yield, S,}i, if the soil suits cotton. \ woman WcavcS one one piece per day of cotton cloth, 6 to 9 yards. 39 to 4j inches wide; she spins Oue-third of pound of yan, at G cents for labor: SIX working days convert the raw fibre into ] pounds of cloth. worth Go cents. The farm laborer gets 10 tOlj cents a day or 70 cents to Sl.0j a week. in harvest tune besides his food, esti- mated at 10 cents day; by the month. S150 to S2, and board; by the year. SIP, and found" About S2 a year will clOthe him, and he does well if he saves twice that m a year. For cOolie labor, boatmen, carriers, wheelbarroW men, etc, from to 3O cents day are paid the carriers in West China, who carry for 2D consecutive days 30O tO 40O pounds of their backs over a mountainous conn try. are considered well paId at 2j cents a day. The ordinary coolie earns S45O a month and spends SI Coal k mined entirely by hand, and sells at the pits mouth for Sl ton. Gold diggers on the Han river in 1870 were earning . tO F. cents a dav; seven men were estimated to wash 20 tops of gravel day, yielding 8 or cents to the ton. The Chinese soldiers costs S67 a year.-IN. I. Times.