The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-28

keeps its pedigree, and the reason why
the Chinese want to be carried to their
own country is that they will be buried
with their families. The clans have
their feuds, just like some of the noun
tain families of Kentucky, and they lay
for each other with bows and guns.
Every family has its ancestral hall in
the town or village near where 1T lives.
where all the different members of the
family meet and worship their ances-
tors. The members of a clan combine
together to punish those who have in
jured the family, and there are said to
be families who make a business OF
Matchmaking and stealing. There are In
all China about four ndr clans, ana
the 400, 900, 900 or 500. 600, 900 which make
up the Chinese people belong to these.
The secret societies are run. however.
Independent of the clans. and the koloa
Hui is only one of a large number or
them. The oldest society in China Is the
Triad Society, known as the sam Hop
Wui. This is said to have been the
cause of the TAPPING rebellion, which
lasted for years, and cost China ten mil
lion lives. 1t sprang up in the south
and spread all over the empire, and had
it not been for Chinese Gordon and Ii
Hung Chang the Tartar dynasty would
certainly have been overthrown. The
head of this rebellion was a Chinaman
who gave out that he was the younger
brother of Jesus Christ, and had been
sent to this world to reform China. The
Trad Society has it's lodges, and there
are flags. banners n umbrellas con-
nected with it. 1t holds its regular
meetings, and it forces members to join
it's organization if they are not amena-
BILE to persuasion. 1t has the power of
life and death over its members, n
the members mix their blood with wine
and swear to uphold the order to the
death. Among the p-unishments for
treason to the order is the having the
ears chopped off or the head cut off,
and the divulgence of the secrets of the
order is death. The members have their
own signs III passwords. You can tell,
it is said, whether a man belongs to the
order by the way he enters he house,
and / am told that they stop a moment
at the door and put the left foot first.
In sitting down they point their toes
together and keep the heels apart, and
they have a way of raising their trou-
sers' legs which is known only to the
brethren. They are bound to help n
OF the order who get into trouble, and
they have secret signs by which they
can mark their houses so that their fam
lilies will escape in case of revolution.
At dinner the arrangement of the cups
on the table allows their callers who
belong to the order to know that they
are members, and there are a thousand
little things which no one else would
notice which enable them to recognize
each other.
MURDEROUs SOCIETIES.
The Triad Society and Koloa Hui are
very much like the highbinders of San
Francisco. They swear to defend each
other against the police, to hide each
others crimes. and they are ready to
kill for the sake of the order at the
command of it's leaders. Their main
grievance is against the government,
and they have published manifestos
against it, and are doing so now. Some
of the chiefs of the order are said to
be travelling around the country as doc
tors. and they are carrying the news
of the Chinese defeats, and are gather
ing in members wherever they go.
Their motto is. Drive out the Tartar
and 1t is said that one branch of the
Triad Society dates back to 1864, A. D.,
or twenty years after the conquest.
They have been working to overthrow
the government ever since. and they
have a great hatred of anything which
is not purely Chinese. 1t is safe to say
of the hundreds of millions in China
that outside of the government officials
there are not a hundred thousand Chi
nese who would fight for the Emperor.
They keep him because they must have
a ruler of some kind, but they know he
is a Tartar. and they hate him. In
every Chinese state capital there is a
Manchu army as we'll as a Chinese
army, and the Tartars are neither adj
mired nor owed. The Emperor, in fact,
is like Humpty Dumpty. He sits on the
wall, and if he should fall, all Of his
nrcno md II af hic mon 4a~ 49,, ~.x
Humpty Dumpty up again.
1t will be surprising TO many Amer
leans to know how cheaply the govern
ment of China is rum. Taxes are lower
perhaps than in any other semi
civilized country On the globe. The
tax, and this varies from 10 to 66 cents
an acre. The Emperor nominally owns
all the land, but in reality the people
a as much of a right to their farms
as we have, and they buy and sell their
real estate. giving deeds for the same.
I took a photograph of a Chinese deed,
by which a missionary had bought some
land at Marking. and which he was car
rying to Shanghai to be recorded at the
American consulate, during my trip
with him down the Yangtse-Kiang. 1t
was as big as four pages of this news
paper, and was covered with stamps.
China pays no tax on liquors.. and 1T is
said that the taxes do not amount to rs
cents per head Of the population. A
large part of the revenue is collected
from the taxing Of salt, and there are
import and export taxes collected on
goods passing up and down the rivers.
/ saw customs boats everywhere. and
the river police is quite extensive. The
people understand very well Just how
much taxes they ought to pay. They
are thoroughly organized, and any rad
ical increase. such as must come from
the present war with Japan, which Is
probably costing them a million dollars
a day, is almost certain to create a rev.
olution. / have seen different innate
of the revenues gotten by the empire of
China, and in no case have the amounts
turned into the general government
been greater than $3.50, 900. 900 a year.
This would be a small alno int in com
parison with the indemnify that japan
will probably demand IL she is victori-
Gus In this war. n the Chinese EN-
peror has. indeed. a thorny road before
him.
POWERFUL LABOR UNIONS.
The greatest danger arises in the char
acter Of the Chinese as regards social
and labor combinations. The govern
ment is perhaps the only disorganized
part Of the country. Every city, every
state and almost every province is
packed full Of different unions, and all
branches Of industry are banded to-
gether. Our labor unions are nothing in
comparison with those OF China. and
the government has to bow down to
them Tho ha rhoro uuitad co-oo.