Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-24

arose in his seat and said: 'tIs there gen. tleman here from Pennslyvanias" Ono of our party acknowledged that he was 6 Pennsylvsnian, whereupon the questioner said, Lend me your corkscrew, will youf' My friend did 80. It was used and polite ly returned, when my friend said: ''Why did you ask the question, 'Is there a gem tleman from Pennsylvania present. and immediately finding that there was asked for corkscrewf" "Why, said the bor- rower, who introduced himself as Colonal Blank, '.it is a well-known fact that no Pennsylvanian is ever caught away from home without his corkscrew. We Ken tuckians have the reputation of knowing and drinking good liquor, you Pennsylvan- fans know good liquor when you see it and never without the means to get at it."
 THE POsTOFFICE IN CHINA. Complete System Independent of
 the State.
 From the Cornhill MagazineI
 Many writers decry the monopoly of the postoffce, others speak of it as a necessa- " evil; some defend it as an unmixed good; but, as matter of fact, if not of principle, it is universally admitted in most lands that the conduct of the corres- Pondence of the people is one of the pro- per functions of government
 However true this may be of other countries, it is most certainly not the case and never has been the case-in the old est of all countries, China. Collectors of postsge-stamps will produce their half dozen specimens, labelled "China," in pro- fasf thic Io- ,-r. q they will ask, Chinese stamps-stamps is- sued by an imperial Chinese posteficel am sorry to say they are not. The Chi nese government, as every one knows, looks with grave suspicion on change Of any kind, and particularly on change ad- vocated by the intruding foreigner. The foreigners, through miscellaneous motives, continue to press what they call reforms upon China, and have urged upon her the adoption of various swealth-producing sys- tems, as railways, hints, telegraphs and postofices. The wealth China would like to have: but she would rather do without the wealth than try these new-fangled schemes.
 It is not to be imagined, however, that a veritable nation of shopkeepers, like the Chinese, would remain, owing to this re- fussl of their government to convey their correspondence, destitute of postal ser vice. They have, indeed, & very complete system of their own, entirely independent of the state. In very town of any size may be seen ten or a dozen shops with the sign Hsin Gnu, letter office" or postal establishment, suspended outside. Their business is to carry, not letters only, but small parcels, packets of silver, and the like, usually to towns in the same pro- vince, but also, on occasion, to other pro- vim E,n or or, perhaps it would be more exact to say, they occupy much the same position in China now as did the "agents" at Harwich or Dover of the postmaster-general at the bedinning of the eighteenth century-so miscellaneous are the packages committed to their charge. They haveno fixed tariff, varying according to weight, and there ap- pears to be no limit, within reason, to the size of letters or parcels they will carry. The charge for letters is fairly consistent, but in estimating the cost of conveyance of parcels, the size and shape alone seem to be taken into account. A rough calcu- lstion is then made, which the sender is at hberty-if he can-to abate. In fact, the transmission of parcels is regarded as be- ing as much 8 matter of bargaining as the purchase of pig.
 As there is no monopoly, each postofhce tries to underbid its rivals, and competi- tion sometimes yerges on the ludiCrous Since the institution of female postoffice clerks in England, how many complaints doubtless quite groundless) have there not been from be purchasers of stamps who have been kept waiting at the coun- ter while the postmistress and her sssis- tants compared notes on last Sundays fashionsi In China this deplorsble state of things is reversed. There each post office has its touters, who go round at very short intervals to each place of busi- ness to beg for the privilege of forward ing their letters. The bankers are the best customers, and as post-time draws near (post-time is fixed at the open posts by the departure of the local steamer) you will see touter enter a bank and inter rupt the clerks with an entreaty to be al- lowed to convey the letters they have not yet copied. He is dismissed for half an hour, and meanwhile two or three rivals will appear with the same request. The lucky man is he who happens to come in as the letters are sealed.
 Prepayment is optional. no fine being levied on unpaid letters. Postage is known euphemistically as "wine allowance" and on the cover of the letter is always noted the amount paid or due. Postage stamps have never, apparently, been thought of. Some day it will dawn upon one of these
 
 fits of our stamp system. He will then hasten to supply himself with varied and picturesque series, which he will dis pose of to western stamp-maniacs at a highly satisfactory profit. Custom re- quires only two classes of correspondence to be prepaid in full-letters to indigent relatives and begging epistles.
 Every letter, sent or received, is entered in book-that is to say, is practically registered. And for this registration you have no two-penny fee to pay, or any ve1 of your envelope. Furthermore, the post office will give you credit. An account will be opened with you, which you need settle once month only, or at longer in teruals still if your credit be good. Who shall say that our state monopoly is an advantage as compared with the free ly competing private postofices of Chinsl But are these trustworthy it will be asked. Foreign missionaries living in the interior declare they are, and gladly make use of them. A Chinese firm of any standing is not less honest in its dealings than a similar firm in England, and it should be remembered that these postof fees pledge their credit. It is true that highways in China are not always safe. That, however, is a matter of comparative ly little consequence since the postofices arrange things so ss to give every one con- cerned, gentry of the road included, the least possible trouble; they pay & regular subsidy to the highwaymen.
 Some day, no doubt, China will be pre- vailed on by her foreign advisers to assert ! her right to control the peoples correspon- | dence; but the day seems far distant. Perhaps, when it dswns, we in the west will have come round to the present views | of the Chinese public on this point, and have decided that it is pleasanter to feel that we are conferring favor by sending cur letters through a grateful postoffice than to have to worry postmsster-generAl into doing badly what private company | could do better.
 In the Kitchen.
 l [Fron the New York Tribune.l The art of marmalade making is hardly known in this generation. Marmslades