Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-27

pay. They are thoroughly organized, and
any radical increase. such as must come
from the present war with Japan. which Is
probably costing them a million. dollars
day, Is almost certain to create a revolu-
ton. / have seen different estimates of the
revenues gotten by the empire of China,
and in no case have the amounts turned
into the general government been greater
than Sl5O,OOO,0OO a year. This would be q
small amount In comparison with the in
demnity that Japan will probably demand
II she is victorious in this war, and the
Chinese emperor has. indeed, thorny road
before him.
The BARRIERS Union.
The greatest danger arises in the charac-
ter of the Chinese regards social and
labor combinations. The government is per-
haps the only disorganized part of the
country. Every city, every state and al
most every province is packed full of diff
ferent unions, and all branches of industry
are banded together. Our labor unions are
nothing in comparison with those of China,
and the government has to bow down to
them. The BARRIERS united some years ago
and made the emperor come to terms In re-
gard to the public examinations for their
children. They had before this belonged to
a rather despised class. They stand now as
high as any other people in the empire. One
of the features OF barbering in China Is
earcleaning. Each barber has tweezers
with which he pulls little hairs out of your
ears, or trims them to suit.
The Chinese like to have the backs of
their shoulders and necks kneaded after
they are shaved. This takes good deal of
time. and the BARRIERS concluded that X kept
them too busy during the holidays The
union called its members together all over
the empire. They passed a law which
makes it impossible for you to get your cars
cleaned during six certain days of the year.
Ii Hung Chang Is great enough to slap the
cheeks of the Chinese officials who call upon
him. He makes his generals get down on
tn md he ann
away his big cloth boots he will continue to
kick them out of the room. He would not
dare, however, to do anything against the
union of the wheelbarrow coolies, and he
has stopped some of his greatest improve
mentS after they have cost him hundreds OF
thousands of dollars because certain of the
trades unions objected. These wheelbar-
rowmen are, In fact, one of the strong or
CARNATIONS of China and they are one of
the great obstacles in the way of railroad
building.
The Chinese Guilds.
The bankers of China have a guild, and
it depends very much upon them whether
the government is supplied with money for
the war. There are nearly 1000 banks In
the two cities of Shanghai and Tien Tsin,
and their members all work together. They
have their connections with other banks of
the empire, and they fix the rates of in
terest and regulate exchange. The tea
merchants have a guild, and there are silk
guilds and all sorts of manufacturers
unions
These guilds have magnificent halls in,
the great cities, and the Hankow tea men
may have a club house in Shanghai and
Canton. and some of the finest buildings in
China today are those possessed by the
trades unions. l have visited many of
these buildings through the courtesy of
Chinese friends. You find them full of
well-dI essed Cinnamon, who are chatting
together, drinking tea playing cards.
They are. in fact, much like the big club
houses of America in their social aspects,
and many of them have beautiful gardens
connected with them.
These unions are very rigid as to their
own men, and they have waged war against
modern machinery. In some instances they
have killed employers who have acted con-
trary to their wishes and a horrible case
occurred at Shanghai a few years ago,
where employer tried to defy the union.
He was warned but he refused to accede
to the demands of the men, and they con-
cluded to make an example of him. He had
more than 100 men in bis shop. These were
present when he entered one morning. and
at concerted signal they sprang upon him
and commenced biting him. They had a
leader. and this leader would not let one
of the men so away from the place without
showing his teeth. If his teeth and gums
were bloody he was permitted to go out
otherwise he was sent back and told to
take a bite. The plot was gotten up on the
basis that there is no capital punishment in
China for biting. The employer was bitten
to death, and the matter finally came to
the ears of the government. 1t made a
great fuss on paper, and published memoir
ials concerning it, but only the man who
union gained it's end.