The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-06-08
Slavery in China.

Minister DENLY sends the state depart.
ment says a Washington dispatch TO the
st. Louis Globe, a report on slavery il
China. which is interesting in view of the
controversy going on. He says:
Slaves were never numerous in China
and of late years they have decreased in
numbers. All China knows, says the
writer, that IN edict of the emperor was
necessary to oblige his Tartars on duty tc
have slaves for domestic servants, and
that this edict is hardly observed.
All modern writers agree that slavery
still exists. Every native may purchase
slaves, and the condition Is hereditary.
Freedom is forfeited by crimes or mort,
gagged for debt. Slaves are so few that
they attract little attention. AT Pekin
girls bring higher prices than boys, vary
ing according to age upto eighteen years,
from 80 to 300 taels. Needy parents
sell their children, and orphans are sold
iii times of famine for a few tacls in
cash.
The origin Of slavery in China is given
in an ancient writing, the F~eng-fou.tiug,
in substance as follows: In antiquity
there were 10 slaves neither male nor fe.
male. The first slaves were fclons wlc
lost their liberty by reason of their crimes.
But they were slaves simply in the sense
that their labor belonged to the public.
Prisoners and captives taken in war in
troduccd a second species of slavery. Fl,
nally, in the troubles and misfortunes of
the third dynasty. the poor, who were
without resources, gave themselves with
their families to the great and rich who
were willing to support them. These
two last forms of slavery caused the con
dition to be regarded rather as a misfor.
tune than a shame.
In the memoirs prepared by the early
Catholic missionaries and printed in lT77,
there are treaties on slavery. Marriage
OF slaves was encouraged for the sake of
the increase.
Slaves were usually treated with kind
ness, and were supported by their masters
in their old age. Manumission was com
mon, and instances are recorded wherein
slaves refused the tender of their free
dom. The missionaries wax eloquent in
defense OF slavery and regard the institu-
ton as developing "a mode of thought
and sentiment worthy of the authors of
Ielemachus' and of the Friend of
Man. The traditional Chinese patri-
arch's idea of the family, they say. modi-
fes and tempers slavery SO that masters
and slaves become one great family.
A gentleman living here who has de-
voted his life outside of all missionary
societies and alone to charity, Mr.. j.
Fisher Crosscttc gives me some informa.
ton as to slavery. He says there is q
system OF servitude carried on in the coal
mines west of Pekin. Men are involved
in gambling debts and then taken to a
coal mine. Their lives aud labor arc
m%ortgagcd for the existing debt and for
others subsequently created and they re-
main slaves.
The Chinese have a great horror of
this condition, and the law has done much
to put a stop to this abuee, and in certain
districts has succeeded. Mr.. Crossettee
personally knows that large numbers of
girls were carried off and sold in slavery
during times of famine in the province Of
Shantung. A Chinese convert at Tsi.
nan-fu sold his little daughter for S16 to
serve as a maid of all work In rich mans
family. Boys were not marketable.
Another Christian sold his wife for SO. so
to pap a debt Of that amount.
MIR. Crossettee says that there exists in
some parts of China a peasant scrvi,ude
such as formerly existed in Russia"