Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-12-12
CHINESE ECONOMY.
FvaxykmWho Can Do Almost Any Thing by
Means of Almost Nothing.

Fxny&mWho Can Do Almost Any Thing by
Means of Almost Nothing.
TIE Chinese are pre-eminently eco
NJ uiczl, whether it be in limiting The
n. mher of wants, in preventing
wsisHe. or in adjusting forces in
ga IN q manner as to make a little
xsseut great deal. The uni
zsal diet consists of rice, beans, mil
! garden vegetable and fish, with a
ae meat on high festivals Whole
xa food in abundance may be sup
6d at less than penny day for
IN adult, and even in famine times
susands of persons have been kept
I've for months on about a halfpenny
:4sfav each. This implies the existence
IS ashigh degree of culinary skill in the
q lfnese. Their modes of preparing food
: sthorough and various. There is no
rvs sste; every thing is made to do as
Eazch duty as possible. What is left
tEa the veriest trifie! The physical con-
80 sion of the Chinese dog or cat, who
sss to live on the leavings of the
t1saaiIy, shows this; they are clearly
.spt ON starvation allowances. The
{ ainese are not extremely fastidious
/ sHgard to food; all is fish that comes
tsh their net, and most things come
aere sooner or later. In the north
se horse, the mule, the donkey
Ire in universal use, and in
txan1e districts the camel also does
:sss1ty. It must be understood that
M practice is to eat all of these
ANNALS as soon as they expire, whether
tytae cause of death be accident, old age,
.er disease. This is done as a matter
ssf course, and the fact that the animal
has died of an epidemic malady does
riot alter it's ultimate destination. Ger
tain disturbances of the human organi-
s-stion, due to eating diseased meat,
sgre well recognized among the people;
Tut it is considered better to eat the
neat, the cheapneSs of which is GER
7ssin, and run the risk of the conse-
lsuences, which are not quite certain,
fhan to buy dear meat even with tha
assurance of no evil results. Indeed
the meat of animals which have died
of ordinary ailments is rather dearel
than that of those which have died il
an epidemic such as pleuro-pneumonia
another example of careful, calcutta
ing economy is the construction of the
cooking pots and boilers, the bottoms
OF which are as thin as possible that
the contents may boil all the sooner,
Cor fuel is scarce and dear, and consists
generally of nothing but the stocks
and roots of the crops, which make &
rapid blaze and disappear. The BUSH
ness of gathering fuel is committed to
children, for one who can do nothing
else can at least pick up straws and
leaves and weeds. In autumn and
winter vast army of fuel gatherers
spread over the land. Boys as
eend trees and beat them with
telubs to shake off the leaves; the very
straws get no time to show which way
the wind blows before they are annexed
by some enterprising collector. SINH
Iarly professional manure collectors
swarm over all the roads of the country.
Chinese women carry this minute econ
ssmiss to them; if it is not used in one
place it is in another where it appears
thing of beauty Foreign residents
who give their cast-off clothes away to
Chinese may be assured that the career
of usefulness of these garments is az
last about to commence. Chinese wheel
harrows squeak for the want of a few
drops of oil; but to people who have nc
nerves the squeak is cheaper than the
oil Similarly, dirt isvcheaper than hot
water, and so, as a rule, the people do
not wash; the motto Cheaper than
dirt" which the soap-dealer puts in
his window, could not be made intel
Egible to the Chinese. To them
the average foreigners are mere
soap-wasters. Scarcely any tool car
be got ready made; it is so muck
cheaper to buy the parts and put therA
together for yourself, and as almoss
every body takes this view ready-made
tools are not to be got. Two rooms are
dimly. lighted with single lamp
deity placed in a hole in the dividing
wall Chinese. in fact, seem to be
capable of doing almost any thing by
means of almost nothing. They will
give you an iron foundry on a minute
scale of completeness in a back yard,
and will make in an hour a cooking
range, of strong and perfect draft out
of pile of mud bricks, lasting indefin-
fely, operating perfectly, and costing
nothing. The old woman who in her
last moments hobbled as near as pos
sible to the family graveyard in order
to die SO as to avoid the expense OF
coffin bearers for SO long distance,
was characteristic Chinese. North
China Herald.
The Pool of Bethesda.
The pool of Bethesda has been salts