Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-21
No STRIKES IN CHINA.
MIR. LIEU, OF THE CONSUL ATE,
TELLS THE REASON WHY.


UNo strikes aud no discomfort In the
,.bor element ever known in China"
That rather astounding statement made
hv Mr.. Lieu of the Chinese Consulate, in
an interview recently published In the
SIM seemed to the writer of that inter-
~iew an inviting field for further inquiry,
and Mr.. Lieu. being again questioned on
the subject, said:
.sLaborers In China are content because
hev do not lack employment, get what
thew earn, and can support themselves in
way that satisfies them upon what they
oct. The lowest class of labor earns in
+be cities 10 cents day, and in the agrl-
cultural districts-where the work is
harder and the hours of labor longer-20
cents. Those are average figures. Some
times the very lowest class of laborers
earn as much as 81 80 or 81 a day, but
that Is only when they carry people on
chairs. up to ancestral shrines or on other
business, into the mountains. That is
terribly hard work, for the carriers are
eXpected to go rapidly all day long, and
ibay should be we | paid for it. Artisans
NJ all classes earn from so to 40 cents a
day, The carver and house painter have
mich esteemed occupations that COM
hlpe the unitarian and artistic, and are
enabled to earn as much as so to 10 cents
a day. No laboring men in southern
China, in the regular pursuit of theil
ayOcations, get more than the latter
figure, but in northern China the wages
are lust little higher. Those earnings
seem small TO Americans, no doubt, but
it must be remembered that cent in
China goes as far AS dime here, and
dime in China buys as much as a dollar
here. In the light of that fact it will be
readily understood that the Chinese
laborer's toll is well remunerated. IL the
man who earns 30 or 40 cents day
spends 10 cents for his three meals he
Will be as comfortably fed as is The New
Yorker who pays 70 cents meal. He
will not have the same things, to be
sure, but he Will have what he appre-
ciates and wants. Many things that the
New Yorker has learned to regard as ne
cessities the Chinamap never heard OF, or,
il he does know OF their existence, has
no desire for them. Vegetables are
abundant, excellent and cheap In CHINA.
Pork. which is very low in price, is the
universal meat. although beef is eaten to
a considerable extent in northern China
and good deal OF mutton IS consumed.
Beet and mutton are not within the Or
binary reach of the common labcrerS, nor
is venison, which is raised in preserves
and looked upon as luxury, but pork is
cheap enough for AL. Then, beyond eat
ing, the artisan finds an allowance OF
&c. cents day sufficient to cover his
rent aHd clothing. Even ifhe has fam
lily, his SOC. or 40c. a day will
enable him to lay by something all the
time for old age, ''rainy day." or in
vestment. And as the ChInaman is by
nature abstemious and frugal, spending
little in amusement and less in disslpa-
ton, he saves bis money as few other
toIlers do. The great ambition of his lie
is to own bit OF real estate, and there
are immense numbers OF the artisan class
VINO live in their own houses.
"Another thing that is of still greater
potency in keeping content among the
tOIling masses of China is that they are to
ouch a vast extent their own employers.
They have among them no vast manufac-
turing concerns. where hundreds, or
even thousands of men, employed in SIM
liar wol k, are all but parts of gigant C
machine, and subject to the same condi-
lions of existence, with perhaps an equal
hOpelessness Of ever attaining any other
position than that of subordinate depend
ency. There are very many thousands of
men who earn their living by some sort
OF manual labor ID China, who carry on
business on their own account. who in
herit their little business from a line of
ancestors, and whose personalities are
representative Of generations OF c0ntented
workers. II individuals have been so
fortunate that the demand for their work,
by reason OF it's excellence, or cheapness
or tor any other reason has come to eX-
eeed what they and their children can
supply, they employ their relatives. A
mans children, grandchildren, and
nephews are not likely to be i'll treated in
the matter of employment by him, or to or
gsnize labor unions TO protect themselves
against him or inaugurate strikes TO GRIP
pie his business and injure both him and
themselves. The workingmen have no
trades unions. and do not need them. The
one solitary feature possessed by some OF
those organizations, That would be of use,
viz, beneficiary character, they already
have, in great perfection. In every
Chinese city, town and village there are
societies to care for members in case OF
sickness and bury them when they die.
Generally these are local, but even II
they have some wider sort of organiza-
tomas in the case of the Sam-1 Vic,
which Is by far the largest and most In
fuential of all-they are free from all
questions concerning labor interests, and
are not secret. Secret organizations are
not deemed respectable in China. There
are secret societies, 1t is true. but what
their objects are or how they are carried
on | do not know"
'How is land held in ChinaW
''In what would be deemed very small
tracts in this country. The unit Of meas:
urement Of land there Is what is termed
the NOW, which is 600x60 feet. The
holder of 1900 mows is deemed a large
landed proprietor. There are good
many who possess that much, but gen.
orally the holdings are quite small, often
not exceeding in whole districts about
the amount that an individual agricul-
turist would lease from the large owner
say seven or eight mows. or possibly ten.
No lands except the portions used for
governmental purposes are owned Dy the
government, only made lands along rly-
ers and other bodies Of water, and those
are sold, either to the proprietors be-
tween whose property and the water
such lands lie-they having the first
right of purchase-or to anybody else. A
man who owns ten mows OF land can i've
on the income from 1t, which is at the rate
OF about per cent on its cost of $500 or
$500 per NOW in the best agricultural dis
tricts. Cinnamon think q great deal oil
the ownership Of land, and are always
struggling to attain it, and when they
get bit, let go Of 1t very reluctantly.
There are no speculative operations In
land, only solid Investments. A great
deal of land is held by family assocla-
tons. Those bearing the same FAMILY
name in town or city league themselves
tOpathar in a hanafpiarV organization