Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-23
IN THE rLowERr KINGDOM.
Wherein This Country win Suffer I'm Case
Chinese Are Excluded.


Wherein This Country win Suffer I'm Case
Chinese Are Excluded.
''Supposing that China should carry out her
threat TO exclude the people OF the United
States from her shores. the immediate loss 10
ourselves involved by such action would be as
nothing compared with future consequences.
which would signify enormous damage to our
interests commercially and otherwise
Such was the opinion expressed TO q STAR
reporter the other day by Commissioner Romyn
Hitchcock. who has recently returned 10 WASH
ington from a visit 10 the aowery kingdom in
behalf of the worlds fair. He added:
"The country is on the point OF being opened
to foreigners and 20 the influences OF civiliza-
tion for the first time in its history. Its re-
sources are vast. They are altogether unde-
veloped and in rendering them available an
enormous and most profitable opportunity
will be afforded to Yankee enterprise and in
genuity. We know almost nothing of the en-
pre- as yet owing TO the fact that exploration
has hitherto been impracticable. The few travel
ers whose appetite for adventure and discovery
has given them courage to traverse the inte-
rior have done so in disguise at the risk of their
lives. IL Is known. however. that there are
mines OF gold, silver. copper. iron and coal
fabulously rich. American machinery and en-
glneering skill will be in demand for opening
ehSh auu tAudCtlLS NCaAtn.
CHANCE TO BUILD RAILWAYS
''we will have chance to furnish locomo-
tives and other mechanical apparatus for
thousands Of miles OF railways Already the
beginning has been macDo a great railway
system. which viii eventually gridiron the en-
tire country. An imperial edict has recently
authorized the construction Of a road from
Nankow almost to Pekin. to be knosn as the
Great Western railway. IL will not quite
reach the capital ITSELF because conservative
prejudice Is still strong enough to forbid
transforming the residence of the emperor
into commercial terminus The road now in
existence between Tientsin and the coal mines
100 miles in length. is TO be immediately
extended 500 miles further. Another railway
Is projected from kawloon. opposite Hong Kong.
to Canton. distance OF 100 miles. There are
soon TO be 100 miles of iron road on the Island
OF Formosa. thirty miles of which have been
constructed.
WONDERFUL PEOPLE.
''The Chinese are wonderful people. II is
popularity supposed that rice, on account Of its
cheapness, is the chief diet Of the poorer
classes. In reality il is luxury with
them. Millet, very nutritious grain IN
known TO the western world. is one of their
most important foods. They consume a great
deal of pork, which costs very little. because
pigs of the razor-back species are plentiful
everywhere. The pig is the domestic ami
NAL par excellence. She sleeps in the living
room, recognizes her name and displays IN
her intelligence the inherited results of cen
turtles OF training. She litters twice a year.
Of her offspring the males are fattea ned and
sent to market and the females are sold or
kept for breeding purposes. The pig is fed at
every meal of the family; during the rest of
the day she forages for herself in the streets
fields and drains.
An APPETITE FOR CATS.
The Chinese in the vicinity of Canton. from
whom are recruited nearly all of the immi-
grants to this country, have remarkable ap-
petite for cats. You will see cats hanging
ready dressed in the butchers windows.
The meat looks white and clean. and
Cats are regularly propsgated for the
market In that region. They can be raised
very profitably because they are so prolific and
expert at finding their own food. One finds
them for sale alive in the shops, in cages ready
for killing-black and white. gray, yellow and
all kinds. The rich people regard cats eyes as
a great delicacy, those of black cats being con-
sidered the choicest and bringing the highest
price.
Rats and mice are not commonly eaten. save
in case of famine. There is a joke about an
imaginary dish, OF which was asked If had
ever partaken. Ii Is called honey and
squeak. and Is supposed to be made by in-
closing live mouse in a piece of honey
comb. Some of the real dishes are
almost equally curious however. For exam
pie. once ate a sort of hot cake, in the middle
of which found inclosed piece of ice. How
such a feat of cookery was accomplished am
unable to imagine.
THE CHINESE OF THE LOWER CLASSES.
1.-The Chinese who come to this country are
all of the lowest laboring class. They are not
of the agricultural population. but are from
the cities and towns where they live by carry
ing burdens. digging. and so forth. They
dwell in houses of mud. which are made
of the proper consistency and plas-
tered over framework of bamboo.
Ordinarily the house has two rooms In one
the family lives. eats and sleeps while in the
other the cooking is done. The bed is
a platform about three feet high, &C.
cupying oue-half of the living room.
1t Is built of brick and covered over with mat
ting. When the members of the household
go TO sleep they lie down upon it and roll
themselves up In such coverings they pos
sess. In winter ire is built under the bed
the heat from which is conveyed beneath all
parts of the brick couch by a sort of winding
hue. finally making its way through hole in
the wall to the outer air.
BACK AND FORTH.
"Returning from the United States to China
with 81. 000 man can establish pawnshop or
set himself up in some other kind Of business.
To come to America costs $50. Even the poor
est person can borrow that amount of money,
because in China debt contracted by an indi-
vidual is always an obligation upon his
family. An important item OF impor.a-
ton from China into the United States is
hens eggs, of which l263O0 dozen were
brought over last year. Another considerable
item is firecrackers On the other hand. We
export to China great quantities of such edible
delcacies slugs, cutie fish, sharks fins,
abalone meats and sea weeds of various kinds.
which are gathered by pig-t tailed fishermen on
the Pacific coast"