Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1894-10-19
CHINESE BANKERS.
Their Banking System Dates Eaek
Thousand Of Years.
Bankrupts Are Banished and
Sometimes Decapitated.

Sometimes DeCapltdtg0.
The banking ,s1stem Of China, ufites
Frank G. Carpenier, j, the aalest
known to man: According Is Chinese
records there were bank ot discount
and deposit there as far tac, as 1000
b. c., and the interest luss ot China
we're made lonS before Coiumb dis
covered America. There vere shy
locks here a thousand years before tire
real Shylork wac born in tile mind of
Shakespeare. and nowhere ou carth .
among civilizea-eope Mil you hud .
higher rates OF interest peij, more
money borrowed and more debts com
scientiously paid. The legal rate Of .
interest in many of the provinces Of .
China is 80 per cent aud in others it .
is 35 per cent. ,still millions ure lent, /
am told, in ihe shape Of call loan. in .
the seaport towns at . and 6 per cont, f.
and all sorts Of money transactions nre F.
entered into. China had g system Of
building andaAa associations long be-
fore we began to exist as q nation, and /
all over the empire there are as-ocia-
tions for the loaniug Of money,
in which the different members
pay so muee a month and the |
joint capital i passed from one mcm-
Der to another from year to year, SO
that each gets a chance to use it for a
part of the ten years during which
such associations usually run. There
is no place in the world where capital
combines more readily than in China.
The bankers 1ayo their guilds or asso-
citation, which fix all their rates Of
credit and interest. Every city has
its clearing house, which settles up
the business l,etNoen the banks at the
close Of eaelovAp Api the native banks
issue circu d : Of credit to
trave 60. "a the empire.
Thersxih ID, 3IHts who push Chinese
patent med lines, and little ones who
loan out hns which we Americans
would hardE think worth while bor-
rowing. 4 fere are trades, unions, Of
all sortsA even the beggars club
toge. are bound by the rules
me -gs-It5a,,alaers con, bine- to-
henS- ss4llAfl- gedIers buy and
NJ ussst'Y schooifuna / - -,
!, Sec 81 Every deposit q moneys,. =. ,'septa
eaos. nc u ,s,sI sl.,,sS sssSyasss q Ass---il no
into onq Fl these loan associations Z,
IrjaAto buy some pictures a
Kilta put found the dealers stor
shukf n hs told that he had closet
untks could get enough mone'
from q friends to pay his last year
debts. All firms here have to settl
up at he close Of the year, and it i
the greatest disgrace to go into bank
ruptdg. Bankrupts often commit sui
eide hnd the son feels bound to pa.
his fathers debts. It is the sam
witt other relatives. The debts of an.
meisber of family are a disgrace t,
the whole family, and rich men, hay
ing failed, will go to work at the mos
mdnial occupations in order to pa.
up Big failures are always punishe,
bJ law. If the amount is from 81, so
to So, 900 the bankrupt is banished
and if it runs above that amount hi
aead is taken off There is not muc
discussion about the matter, and tn
law is that the bankrupt who become
such from unavoidable circums ance
is decapitated Just the same as tn
fraudulent one. There are no lawyer
and no juries, and the judges and off
cials of the town pass the sentence
Sometimes the bankrupts carr
heavy chains for weeks throug
the streets. At others they an
pat in the cangue and not iuircquentl
they lose their heads, If, however
the bankrupt can save enough out &
the failure he can somstimes buy OF
the judges, thus saving his head ]
many cases the creditors forgive the
customers their debts and many
man 40 the annual settlement day
which always comes at the close ot I'll
year, has his friends come toeeth.
and start him anew, clear of debt.
If he cannot clear himself in som
way, his shop is kept shut until he al
nounces his failure or gets the funJ
to continue This prevents thel
ever being a great panic in China. I'll
actual standings of the different mel
chants end business men are know
at least every twelve months, an
there is no chance for man to col
tinue a long career of fraud and foi
ure.
A Remarkable Sea Fight.
oac Of the most remark,bls ct
fights in the history of the world ",