Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-19
TIL E B ANK ERS' CLUR

lact, 80 surprising to many of the people
that they are selling their gold ornaments
They are bringing out the gold bricks they
drained of its gold.
The Chinese are a great business people
Their cities are beehives of work, and they
require great deal of money to do their
trading The city of Canton absorbs about
three millions of silver dollars a year. 1t
takes millions to do the business of Shang-
hal and Tientsin. and there are scattered
over this land thousands of native banks
who do regular banking business and
some of which issue notes. There are 400
native banks in Picking. 800 in Tientsin and
hundreds In Shanghai, Foo Chow, Ningpo
have their stock exchanges and in these the
brokers meet daily and buy and sell like our
bulls and bears do in Wall street. I saw a
thousand such brokers pulling hauling and
scratching at each other in the stock ex-
change In Picking, and am told that many
OF them have recently lost great sums In
betting on silver. The Taotoi or Chinese
mayor Of Shanghai has lost II Is said
$500. 700 within the last three months in buy-
ing silver. and he has, in fact, specialized
himself out of Office and his place will
shortly be filled with a new appointee. In
all of the treaty ports, the foreign as well
as the native business Is really done by the
Chinese. All of the foreign firms have
chinese cashiers, and these men make all
OF the calculations and handle all the mon
ey When you go into a bank the English
clerk will call Chinaman to figure out
your exchange for him and II will he the
Chinaman who will pay you your money.
II you make deposit pay q bill IL Is n
Chinaman who handles every silver dollar
testing IT carefully by ringing 1t before / e
accepts 1t, and estimating the amount and
the rate or exchange with one of these box
es or balls strung on wires, which form the
states and pencils Of the celestials 1t is
wonderful how fast these men can figure in
this way They push the halls this way and
that with their aristocratfc, long finger
nailed yellow hands. and in less time than
you could put down the figures they give
you the result. They are always sure of
themselves, and If they make mistake the
firm by whom they are employed expects
them to make Ii good. They are under
heavy bonds, often running up into the hun
dreds or thousands of dollars. and there are
rev defaulting Chinese cashiers. These
"compradors' and "shroffs." as they are
called. keep track Of the Chinese markets
for the foreign firms. They have cashiers
or bankers meetings. as it were. every day
among themselves and report later on to
their masters. They know all about the
standing of different Chinese banks and
firms In speaking of them they divide
them into four classes. II they say a bank
good as the gold. II they call II number
two 1t Is fair. If number three its reputa-
ton Is cloudy. and IL four. you had better
let 1t alone.
Chinese CounterfeitinE.
Chinese bank notes are more like promis-
not and never has been a national bank.
and notes are not used as currency to any
extent The banker merely writes the
amount on the note and puts. his private
seal or chop over it. Such notes are made
out for all sums from five to twenty thou
sand taels. and the Chinese banker never
goes back on his signature. He pays the
notes when they are presented in silver or
gold The silver Is usually paid according
to weight. In Jumps the shape of a toy bath
tub. ranging in value all the way from a
dollar up to fifty dollars. The usual size is
WORTH about fifty dollars, and 1t weighs
about five pounds. The gold Is made in
long, thin cakes, and Is twenty carats fine
The banker stamps with his private seal
every piece Of silver he pays out. and even
the Mexican dollars are marked thus with
India ink. Every big bank or company has
a man who takes all of the silver dollars
that come In and fits them into holes made
In board. so that when they lie in them
their surface Is just level with the board
He then takes a brush and water and
washes them as white and clean as though
they had just come from the mint. He now
stamps his chop on each Of them, and this
means that he guarantees their payment
Any one who has been in China will see the
necessity for this. There are no shrewder
counterfeiters In the world than the Chi
nese. and they are especially adept in the
plugging OF coin. They will bore holes in a
silver dollar and insert other metal which
VIII make Ii weigh the same a good dol
lar, and they are willing to chip an atom of
silver of OF large number Of coins in or
der to make good wages out of the sale of
the dust. the other day an American got
a silver dollar in trade at Hankow, and at
tempted to pass 1t at the bank there. He
was told 1t was not good. and upon his
questioning the matter the Chinese cashier
sent for a candle and lit it. He then held
the coin over 1t. and. loi in a moment 1t be-
gan to melt. The sides fell of, and in the
center there was piece of copper. The