The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-09-11
CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES.
Written for the Bulletin

W tue lholS uluCduu i az Ia ~ " -
lage, it Is not strange that the people,
in the course of many centuries,
should have resorted to secret and
nnderhand methods of defending
themselves from the unjust exactions
that have been levied, from time i'm
memorial, by INSCRIPTIONS officials
upon these helpless masses. Decep-
ton and intrigue have become the
order of the day in the war of
Squeeze that is being waged be-
tween the opulent official and the less
fortunate civilian, and no means,
however contemplate to Western
ideas, are left untried to gain the
end in view.
The Chinese mind is thus trained
from infancy in the art of intrigue
and deception, and no amount of
teaching from foreign schools or mis-
sions will eradicate these traits of
character from the Monaghan nature.
In great matters as we'll as small,
the principle is the same. The high
official at the rsung Lii Iamen al
Peklng, considers that he is perform
ing with much ability the duties of
his office If he succeeds in hoodwink
ING the barbarian Ambassador by
putting bin on the wrong track,
whilst tie willy officer in charge of
the army clothing department in
country district, will successfully
cothe a whole regiment of soldiers
Con paper) in blue cotton uniforms,
of course drawing full payment for
same from the Imperial Treasury.
But it is perhaps in matters COM
mercal that the "heatben ChinP""
exhibits his superior skill, and where
the secret con"laVe system is made to
work so admirably. In the British
colony of Hongkong, for example,
every business house has its "conl-
pradore, who transacts and pur-
chases and negotiates all sales of
merchandise. Immense quantities
of cottons, opium, and manufactures
of all kinds, imported by the foreign
merchant, are daily sold by the COM
pradore to parties quite unknown to
the owner of the goods and whom he
never sees, He also, of course,
through the compradore, purchases
teas, silks and other productions OF
China. from he knows not whom.
Payments are made and money re-
: ccived by the compradore, who is, as
rule CATER being a few years in a
foreign trading establishment, vir-
tualy the firm, while the house bear
ing q foreign name is simply the
mouthpiece of the keen-sighted
smilingly polite Chinese compradore
IL has been attempted more than
once by new arrivals in China tC
change all this. TO buy and sci
direct from or TO whom he pleases
= and by 50 doing retain for himself The
heavy margins that yearly fine
their way into the capacious pockets
d, of the well-to-do Compradore. He
this unsophisticated foreigner, prob
ably n man of great business ability
= in the European or American tow
from whence he came, is determined
to change this monstrous state O
4. things, and, once for all, dispense
with the services of the obnoXiou.
Compradore, but little suspecting thu
presence of the net whose subtl'
folds are slowly but too surel y clos
q ing around him. The powerful secre
society of Compradores is aroused tt
action. Money is no object at sucl
times. The vast, invisible machner,
is set in motion, and the mercnaD
= with new ideas is not slow 10 feel it
effects. He begins to discover tina
there are no purchasers for his good
at any price. Rival houses at hi
, side are doing roaring trade, swarm
: of coolies are carrying their ware
from the store houses to the lumber
ing junks that transport them to thei
destination, while the merchant wit
new ideas sits down with folde
hands and looks on He is hampere
in all he does. even to obtaining til
4 services of godown coolies or Office
BOYS, and he becomes sad aud melar
choIy. With 10 business doing, til
future for him wears a gloomy a:
pect Still he braves it out for fe
weeks longer when he is convince
that he has been on the wrong tacl
1t WON'T work, he finds; so reluc
antly, with a sadness of expression
= he engages the services of Compr'
v dore, relinquishes the direction {
es affairs in favor of that functionar,
o. when ''lo and behold" all is changed
u His warehouse and offices are visite
~ by strings of smiling brokers in lor
silk gowns and shining queues, wi
find markets for his wares. II
hitherto deserted store houses a
now animated with life aud bustl
and the merchant with new ide
comes to the conclusion that tt
Heather Chinee is too many guns f
him.
The above is sample of one
- the methods adopted by secret s
. ciety that is very strong all ov
China. There is scarcely busIne
ot tradp mara nartirularlv af II