The morning call., 1894-05-20

poets them to make it good. They are
under heavy bonds, often running up into
TIE hundreds OF thousands OF dollars. aud
there are lew defaulting Chinese cas- HERS.
These ''cOmpTadors" ana "shroffs." as
they are called. keep track of the Chin csc
markets for the foreign firms. They h We
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
oahks and firms. In speaking of them
tnsv divide them into four classes. If
they say bank is a number one bank il
Is sure to be as good as the gold. II they
call 1t number two it is fair. II number
three, It's reputation is cloudy, aud if four,
you had better let it alone.
Chinese bank notes are more like prom
lssoTy notes than our bank notes. There
is 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 uuts his private
seal or chop over II. Such notes are made
out for all sums from 5000 TO 90, ZOO taels,
and the Chinese banker never goes back
on his signature. He rays the notes when
they are presented in silver or gold. The
silver is usually paid according TO weight,
In Jumps the shape of toy bathtuD, rang
ing in value all the way from dollar mp
To $50. The usual size is worth about $50
aud II weighs about five pounds. The gold
is made IN long. thin cakes and is twenty
carats fue. The banker stamps with his
private seal every piece of silver lie pays
out. and even the Mexican dollars are
marked thus with Iadla ink.
Every big bank OF company has a man
VINO takes all the silver dollars that come
in and fits them into holes made in a
board, so that when they lie in them their
surface is just level with the board. he
then takes d 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 c0unterfeilers in he world than
the Chinese, and they are specially adept
IN the plugging of coin. They viii bore
holes IN silver dollar and insert other
metal which will make it weigh the same
a good dollar, and they are willing to
chip an atom OF silver off large mum Der
Of coins in order TO make good wages
out of the sale OF the dust. The other
DAY an American got a silver dollar in
trade at Hankow, ana attem pied 10 pass
IL al the bank there. He was told it was
not good, and upon his questioning the
matter the Chinese cashier sent for a
candle ana lit it. He then held the coin
over 1t, and, 10! In moment it began TO
melt. The sides fell off. ana in the center
there was a piece of copper. The cOun-
tertelteTs had split genuine coin and had
Followed out the two pieces on the inside
so that the copper could be fitted into
them. They were then patched together
Su neatly That only the experienced ear Of
tie Chinese shToff could detect the fraud.
Silver dollars Will not pass in interior
China, and outsl e Of ports silver is taken
entirely by weight. The only coin current
in The empire IS the copper cash. OF which
! takes 1000 to make dollar ia silver Il
thousand cash VIII weigh about nine
pOuuus, and ten of our dollars changed
into cash would weigh nearly one
hundred pounds, and would form fair
W heelbaTTOW load of money. | see lots Of
money carried on Wheelbarrows through
these Chinese cities, and common sight is
a cody going out to market with strings
Of these copper coins slung over his
shoulder. The cash ara about the size and
shape OF our Old red cents, save that they
have square holes of about the size of the
tip Of your little finger running through
them. They are strung in strings Of one
thousand ON ropes OF twisted straw, and
at the end of every hundred a knot is tied
in the string 10 mark the count These
cash are made al all OF the provincial CAPT.
tails, and tie YlceroyS are expected TO turn
them out They cost at the present time
more than their face value to make. and
copper of this kind is, in fact, here dearer
than gold.
saw such coins being made some years
ago al the big mint at Canton, and
watched a new machine turning them out
at the rate or seventy a minute at the
kfagnan Arsenal the other day. The
copper went into the machine In the shape
Of hoop, CT about the width of the iron
hoops which we use on cider barrels, and
stamps which worked through holes in a
plate cut the metal into round disks.
stamped the characters upon them and cut
cut the central hole in each coin all at a
single stroke Of the machine. 1t was
worked by steam, but even at this rate OF
seventy per minute II turned out only
about four dollars worth Of coins an hour.
1t is even worse at the older Chinese minis,
where the coins are cast, and the copper
and the labor make The production of
them loss to the men who are told by the
Government or the VlcerOys that they
must furnish so many cash within GER
tain date. The result is that these cash
are often made of spurious metal, and
have seen some of them which were so
poor that I could break them in two with
my fingers. At the present rates of eX-
change L could buy two thousand Of these
coins for one of our dollars, and 1t would
take twenty to equal the value OF little
American red cent, and you could buy a
pound of them for a nickel. [ sent my
Chinese servant for $40 worth of these
cash to-day, and he came back loaded.
His hands were full and his shoulders
were covered with strings of cash. The
picture was so curious that | had my
photographer snap his camera on him as /
helped him unload.
The banking system Of China Is the old
est known 10 man. According to the Chi
nese records there were banks of discount