The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1888-12-01
HOW THE CHINESE ECoNoM1zE.


The Chinese are pre-eminently
economical, whether it be in limit
ing the number of wants, in pre-
venting waste, or in adjusting for
ces in such a manner rs to make 6
little represent great deal. The
universal diet consists ofrice, beans
millet, garden vegetables and fish
with little meant on high festivals
Wholesome food in abundance may
be supplied at less than penny a
day for each adult. and even in
famine times thousands of persons
have been kept alive for months on
about a half-penny a day each.
This implies the existence of high
degree of culinary skill in the Chi
nese; their modes of preparing
food are thorough and various.
There is no waste; everything is
made to do as much duty as pos
sible. What is left is the veriest
triAe. The physical condition of
the Chinese dog or cat, who has to
live on the leavings of the family,
shows this; they are clearly kept
on starvation allowances. The Chi
nese are not extremely fastidious
in regard to food; all is fish that
comes to their net, and most things
come there sooner or later. In the
North the horse, the mule, the dom
key are in universal use, and in
some districts the camel also does
duty. 1t must be understood that
the practice is to eat all Of these
animals as soon as they expire,
whether the cause of death be ac-
cident, old age, or disease. This is
done as matter of course, and the
fact that the animal has died of an
epidemic malady does not alter it's
ultimate destination. Certain dis
turbances of the human organiza-
ton, due to eating diseased meat,
are well recognized among the peo-
pie; but it is considered better to
eat the meat, the cheapness of which
is certain, and run the risk of the
consequences, which are not quite
certain, than to buy dear meat even
with the assurance of no evil results.
Indeed, the meat Of animals which
have died of ordinary ailments is
rather dearer than that of those
which have died in an epidemic such
as pleuro-pneumonia. Another ex-
ample of careful, calculating econ
omy is the construction of the cook
ing pots and boilers, the bottoms of
which are as thin as possible that
the contents may boil all the sooner,
for fuel is scarce and dear and con-
sists generally of nothing but the
stalks and roots of the crops, which
make rapid blaze and disappear.
The business 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 a
vast army of fuel gatherers spread
over the land. Boys ascend trees
and beat them with clubs 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.
professional manure col
lectors swarm all over the roads of
the country. Chinese women carry
this minute economy into their
dress; nothing comes amiss to
them; if it is not used in one place
it is in another where'it appears a
thing of beauty. Foreign residents
who give their cast-off clothes away
to Chinese may be assured that the
career of usefulness of these gar
ments is at least about to COM
mence. Chinese wheelbarrows
squeak for the want of a few drops
Of oil; but to people who have no
nerves the squeak is cheaper than
;he oil. Similarly, dirt is cheaper
han hot water, and so, as rule,
The people do not wash; the motto,
Cheaper than dirt" which the
soap-dealer puts in his windows, |
could not be made ineligible to
;he Chinese. To them the average
are mere soap-wasters.
Scarcely any tool can be got ready |
made; it is so much cheaper to buy
he parts and put them together for
Yourself, and as almost everybody |
,akes this view, ready-made tools
ire not to be got. Two rooms are
limly lighted with a single lamp
1eftly placed in hole in the divid-
ng wall. Chinese, in fact, seem to
oe capable of doing almost any,
hing by means of almost nothing.
They will give you an iron foundry
on minute scale Of completeness
n a back yard, and will make in
an hour cooking range, of strong
and perfect draft, out Of a pile Of
mud bricks, lasting indefinitely, I
working perfectly and costing moth
ng. The old woman who in her
asst moments hobbled as near as
possible to the family graveyard in
order to die so as to avoid the ex-
oense of coffin-bearers for SO long
! distance. was a characteristic |