Evening star., 1896-10-24
STARTING CHINESE LAuN-
DRIES.

'Tn sosne} respects the much abused
Chiraman." said Hong Sing Lcng. one Of
the Interpreters and general agents Of the
Chinese Six Companies, to Star re-
porter, "are way in advance of the ordi-
nary working rnan. and particularly SO in
regard to thasr- Ready Money Associa-
tioES."
Hong Sing Long spends most of his time
IN New York. though he visits Washing
tons ton seysrsL Iiss each year He is Is an sdu
sides side has % bfkrssraduated ysmn as as lawyer. YER
With the exception Of one. all OF the
chinese laundry places In this city are the
result OF the Ready Money Associations;
mat 1s: the money necessary to start them
came from the Ready Money. The plan Is
not unlike the building associa tions, which
l am told have quite a clientele here. and
which were originally started In Philadel-
phia. The Chinese plan is to start Ready
MONEYS as often as a party of Chinese find
they nave any surplus money on hand, the
Idea being to keep the money moving
others that the more free the circulation
the better for all concerned: 1t is the Gus
tom OF the laundry boys. for Cinnamon
always speak of each other as boys. TO
or day, and gossip. An who have spare
money put 1t In pool and authorize some
one to keep 1t personally as a deposit In
pank AS soon as the pool gets any size
the word goes out and 1t is sold to the
applicant for it's" .'@
.'As a general thing there is but one ap
plcant and he gets it, at a rate OF inter-
est 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
| 1t Is needed. Just now the Cinnamon 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 II safe? what guarantees are there
tnat the money will be paid back? Yes,
these are the urgent questions. Safe? Per-
iectly safe. The civilization of the Chinese
Is no new thing. 1t is five thousand years
| old. They have found out that honesty is
the best policy; not on account Of the NOR
al or religious question involved as you
understand 1t. but on account Of the busi-
ness proposition involved. Honesty is best
because 1t pays. as for many other rea-
sons. In business dealings Chinese are
very very strict. muelA more strict than any
The Chinaman knows that If he bor-
| rows he> must pay back; and that the con-
sequences OF not doing so are very serious,
mGch more serious than 1t Is with Ameri-
cans or Europeans. He knows this before he
gets the money and does not take it unless
he means to pay back. The man who acts as
secretary OF the Ready Money is also the
treasurer. Hel takes pretty good care TO
give good account Of his stewardship.
Ior his ahappiness depends upon his con-
duct: The Chinese Ready Moneys frequent
iy close up, in n week, though ordinarily
they last longer. Each transaction is
separate one. A man may be a member of
dozen or have all Of his money in one.
The great ad~a ntage, of.the Ready Money
IS that 1t gives, .exkfy one who wants it
money to opsn Hps business for himself
whenever he sees The Opportunity. There is
no wairrng-no security is needed except
promise t. pay. The payment never fails,
except for good reasons, such as accident
or Sickness. In fact. it does not pay to fail
to pay. for IT, will cost more III the long
run. When your civilization is five thou
sand years old, You will know more than
you do now. and will understand things
that now seem 10 be wonderful in u.s.