The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-22
CHINESE ARE THRIFTY FELLOWS.
Start in Business on Borrowed Capital
and Always Repay 1t.

The much abused Chinamen,' said
Hong Sing Long, one Of the Interpreters
anu general agents of the Chinese Six
Companies, to a Star reporter, ''are way
in advance of the ordinary workingman,
and particularly sol regard to their
ready monty associations"
Hong Sing Long spends most of his
time in New York, though he visits Wash
ington several times each year. He is an
educated Chinaman, and has the advan.
ta2e of several years at Harvard, and be-
sides has been graduated us lawyer.
with the exception of one, all of the
Chinese laundres in this city are the re-
suit 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 am told have quite clientele
here, and which were originally started
in Philadelphia. 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 t. keep
the money moving along 1t is the Gus
tom of the laundry boys, for the Chinese
always speak of each other us boys, to
gather about on Monday, that being their
OIL day All who have spare money put
1T in pool and authorize some one to
keep it personally as II deposit in II bank
AS soon as the pool gets any size the word
goes out and it is sold to the largest bid
der, if there is more than one applicant
for it,
LAS general thing there is but one
applicant, and he gets it at the rate 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 it is needed Just
now the Cinnamon are starting laundries
in u number of small towns in the South,
and my errand here now is to get some
of the Ready Money funds 70 be advanc
ed for that purpose.
''Safe Perfectly safe The civiliZa-
ton of the Chinese is no new thing 1t
is 5000 years old. They have found out
that honesty is the best policy; not on ac-
count OF the moral or religious question
involved. Honesty is best because it
pays, as for many other reasons. In bust
ness dealings Chinese are very strict,
much more strict than any other people
1.-The Chinaman knows that if he Dor
rows he must pay back, and that the con-
sequence of not doing SO are very serious,
much more serious than it is with Ameri-
cans or Europeans. He knows this be-
fore he gets the money and does not axe
it unless he means to pay back. The
man who acts rs the secretary of the
Ready Money is also treasurer He
takes pretty good care to give Il good nc.
count of his stewardship, for his happi.
ness depends upon his conduct. The
Chinese Ready Money frequently close
up in Il week, though ordinarily they last
longer. Each transaction is II separate
one a man may he IL member o; !, ,ioz-
en-, or have all his money in one.
THE great advantage of the Ready
Money is that it gives every one who
wants it money to open up business for
himself whenever he sees the opportuni-
ty. There is no waiting-no security is
| needed except Il promise to pay. The pay.
ment never fails, except for good reasons,
such as accident OF sickness. In fact it
does not pay to fail to pay, for it will
cost more in the long run. When your
civilization is 5000 years old you will
know more than you do now, and will
| understand things that now seem to be
| wonderful in us" Washington Star