The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-18
AT GARFIELD PARK.
CHICAGO, June 1.-THE racing events at
Garfield park to-day were as follows:
CHINESE LAUNDRY CHECKS
How They Are Written-A Very
Curious Sort of System.
FROM The BrOoILl71 En0Je

How They Are Written-A Very
Curious Sort of System.
From the Brooklyn Eagle.
The Chiuaman illustrated how the checks
we're written with q brushlIke pen with
India ink on the red or green slips Of paper
Usually red paper is used for bundles Of
collars and cuffs alone, and the green checks
for bundles of laundry composed OF differ
emit articles. The Chinese system of count
ing is similar to our own-there are nine
figures. but there is another character for
ten which resembles a cross. The other
nine figures are of curious formation, easily
recognizable as being Chinese characters
The l, and 3 are represented by horizonal
lines, the same as Roman numerals, except
that the latter are vertical. The rest are of
peculiar formation, impossible to describe
Now comes the point OF difference be-
tween the Arabic system Of notation and
that Of the disciples of Confucius Instead
of using the first nine figures combined with
the figure 10 to express numbers greater
than 10 the Chinese have different charac-
tiers which with the cross QO are equiva-
tent to what we call our "teens," Then the
multiples of 10 are formed by the use Of the
same characters as for the teens, but the
cross for lois placed to the right of the
other characters. There still remain all the
pies OF 10, to be provided for. These are
formed by combining the character used
for the multiple of 10 and the character
denoting thu figure, which, If added
to the multiple, will make the de-
sired number. except that In combining the
two, the cross denotinR the 10 is omitted
For example, in writing 40, character re-
sembllng our x is placed TO the left OF the
cross 1W, and to make 43 the y and three
lines, vertical in this case are used, omit
ting the cross used IN writing 40 Thus il
will be seen that they will have eighteen
characters, while we have but ten, and our
system is not nearly SO cumbersome To
recapitulete, they have the nine characters,
which are represented by our nine digits,
and the GROSS for the 10, which we form by
combining the cipher and the one
There are eight more characters used in
forming all the rest of the numbers The
2 and the when used in forming these
numbers are written vertically; the is an
K, the resembles an 8, the is like an l.:
the the same with q line under it, and the
9 q combination Of two curved lines. The
Chinese cannot count beyond 100, or 90,
rather, and so when the lauadryman has
exhausted all his numbers he is forced to
fall back on words. Therefore, he writes a
word on the check twice, just the same as
the number is written twice. The num-
Der is often written in the center
also and the check torn in two
pieces right through these characters, and
thus an additional safeguard is provided.
The word written on the check is generally
the name Of some familiar object or a mot
to. With each hundred checks this of
course has to be changed When the
goods are put in the wash strip Of cotton
cloth is tied to each one on which is written
the number, and II necessary the additional
word and also the number of articles which
have the same number. 1t will be seon that
the system is cumbrous, necessitating much
work. The price of the washing Is marked
en- the part OF the check the laundryman
keeps. SO that he can tell at glance how
much TO charge.