The Portland daily press., 1883-02-10
How chinamen Borrow Money.

[San Francisco Call
When Chinaman finds himself financially
embarrassed and needs money, he does not do
as other people do, borrow it and either give
promissory note or ehattel mortgage as security
for the same, but he forms what in Chinese is
called and Convey" This is something which
is peculiarly Chinese and requires minute ex-
PLANTATION in order that it may be clearly un-
derstood. The lowest ''owey'' is fixed at 81
for each person forming it, and the highest
1900. For instance, if Chinaman needs SlOo
he will call on number of his friends, not to
exceed ten, and tell them that he wishes that
amount of money and desires to form an "ow-
ey" If it is decided that it shall be 800
"owey," then five persons in addition to the
originator combine For the purpose of ex-
planning the "owey' the originator will be de-
ignated as Sam, and his five friends = LOW,
Yen, Kow, Chew and Hir>s at Tue nrs'
meeting Of the six the srlginator receives from
each of he otner five $50, making up the
amount he requires. This is a loan made to
| him without interest, which he must repay az
The rate Of S2Pper month. At the time this
supn is advs1ced the other i've bid for the priv
| ilepe of 5ne "owey" for the running month.
1 EaCS oAAo WAAtOo OAi =" olip VI p0pOA eho
| esthe premium he will give. These slips are
I rolled separately and thrown into bowl and
shaken up. after which each slip is unroled
| and the amount noted The s'owey' is then
awarded to the one having bid. the highest pre-
MUM. Vow having bid $l-rre,na1um, Yen,
Kow, Chew and Hi9gsoin Hi9gTsminp pay az Sls which IS
IN ali to S76. e~d II he adds the amount of his
~ Iga o.. w it will make total Of 500 or
! Equal s[the amount advanced to Sam. less
| 81, <FAicn is reckoned as interest, allowing 81
| Fl eacn OF the four who advance the money
Al the close of the first month Sam, the orig
| lnaUor, IS by the rules which govern this sys-
tenn OF money-lending, forced TO notify all who
belong to the .owey" of the next meeting.
| AT this meeting Yen, Kow, Chew and Hing
are the only ones who are permitted
70 oifer premium, Sam and Vow
! ing the premium of ST. is again offered and it
having been awarded to Yen, the other three
/ pay him $l9 each, and Sam and Yen
repay their first monthly instalment of 500
eacn. . Al the next meeting only three,
kow, Chew and Hing can bid, and If the
| same amount of premium is bid. and II is
awarded to the first of the three named the
other two pay him $40 each, while the other
three, Sam, You and Yen pay him 800 each.
A.; "A. lhe ne1t meeting only two, Chew and
Ting, are permitted to offer premium. The
one 10 whom the "owey" is awarded receives
from Inc other the amount less the premium,
and from the other four $40 each. At the
next ana last meeting only one remaining. he
receives from the other five $40 each, making
the full sum of 500. By this method the
originator OF the ''owey" who obtains the
money without interest has the ase of 800 for
one month, $50 for four months, $50 for three
hohtns, S4O Tor two months and $40 for one
moh'h La return for the use of the money he
is forced to act as collector from the other
members OF the 'owey," who are required to
| pay the monthly instalments of $40 He also
assumes risk, and that is, if any member or
tne oweyD does not pay at the appointed
llme, ne has to be responsible for the amount
que. The other members of the "owey." who,
DJ instalments advance money to one another,
| receive interest for the amount of their ad-
vances, and each in turn has the use of the
Total amount OF the "oweyn in tho same pro-
portion as the originator This method of
money lending is in vogue among all classes,
ana women often form ''oweys" among them
serves When the slips of paper, before al
luded to, are drawn from the bowl, it often
nappens TWO or more contain the same amount
OF premium. In such an event the "owey" is
given 10 the one whose sliD is first drawn The
'owey" may be composed of any number not
exceeding ten besides the originator, and the
greatest amount that may be raised by such
means is $4,000. Whenever an t'owey" is
formed and the amount to be awarded to the
| originator is $500, or in excess thereof, he ia
required to treat those who loan him the
| money, to dinner not to cost less than So a
head Oftentmes high premium is bid for
the privilege of the "owey' for each succeed
| ing month, and this gives the lenders consd-
| cradle interest for the use of their money