Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-11-26
CHINESE LAUNDRIEs.
How Many Of Them Are Started by
Ready AInnn.. AaancinAir.r.

How Many OF Them Are Started by q
Ready Money Association.
ain some respects the much abused
Chinaman," said Hong Sing Long, one
Of the interpreters and general agents OF
the Chinese Six companies, to reporter,
"are way in advance of the ordinary work
ing man and particularly so in regard to
their Ready Money associations"
Hong Sing Long spends most Of his time
in New York, though he visits Washing
ton several times each year. He is an edu-
Gated Chinaman and has had the adyan-
tage Of several years at Harvard and be-
sides has been graduated as lawyer.
with the exception of one, all Of the
Chinese laundry places in this city ore the
result of the Ready Money associations
that is, the money necessary to start them
came from the Ready Money. The plan is
not unlike the building associations, which
l am told have quite clientele here, and
which were originally started in Philadel-
phia. The Chinese plan is to start Ready
Moneys as often as party Of Chinese find
they have any surplus money on hand, the
idea being to keep the money moving
along Our experience is, like that of all
others, that the more free the circulation
the better for all concerned. 1t is the GUS
tom of the laundry boys-for Chinamen
always speak of each other as boys-to
gather about on Mondays, nat being their
of day, and gossip All who have spare
money put it in pool and authorize some
one to keep 1t personally as deposit in a
bank. As soon as the pool gets any size
the word goes out, and it is sold to the
largest bidder, If there is more than One
applicant for it.
GAS general thing there l. but one ap
plicant, and he gets it at q ate of interest
agreed upon. 1t starts him in business
and in few weeks he begins paying back.
Now and then there is no demand for the
money. 1t then goes to the cities where il
is needed. Just now the Chscamen are
starting laundries in a number Of small
towns of the south, and my errand here
now is to get some Of the Ready Money
funds to be advanced for that purpose.
"Is it safer What guarantees are there
that the money will be paid back? Yes,
these arc the urgent questions. Safe' Per
fectly safe. The civilization of the Chinese
is no new thing. 1t is 5000 years old.
They have found out that honesty Is the
best policy, not on account of the moral OF
religious question involved as you under
stand it, but ON account of the business
proposition involved Honesty Is best be-
cause 1t pays, as for many other reasons.
In business dealings Chinese are very strict
much more strict than any other people.
"The Chinaman knows that II he bor.
rows he must pay back and that the con.
sequences of not doing SO are very serious,
more serious than they are with Ameri-
cans or Europeans He knows this before
he gets the money and does not take it un.
less he means to pay back. The man who
acts as secretary of the Ready Money is
also the treasurer. He takes pretty good
care to give good account of his stew. ID
ship, for his happiness depends upon lis
conduct. The Chinese Ready Moneys fie-
quently close up in a week, though ordi-
narily they last longer. Each transaction
is separate one. A man may be mem
ber Of dozen or have all of his money in
one.
The great advantage of the Ready
Money is that it gives every one who wants
1t money to open up business for himself
whenever he sees the opportunity. There
is no waiting-no security is needed ex
cept promise to pay. The payment nev.
er fails, except for good reasons, such as
accident or sickness. In fact, it does moi
pay to fail to pay, for 1t will cost more In
the long run. When your civilization iE
5000 years old, you will know more thar
you do now and will understand things
that now seem to be wonderful in u.s. -
Washington Star.