The morning times., 1897-01-18
CHINA 4 SILVER COUNTRY
Must Take a Servant to Carry
Your Cash.
KEEPS MONEY AND ACCOUNTS
The Stores Are Small, Very Small.
The Shops Sell But One Article.
Shopping in This Country Is Any
thing But Pleasant-Underw
Worth $500.

W
fore, you go a-shopping and are provided
with the necessary cash, you take faith
full servant with you carry the money and
a second to protect the first from the wiles
of the snatcher. A hundred dollars in our
money is represented by bag of silver
coins weighing twelve pounds and a string
of copper coins, called cash." weighing
three pounds. Your servant keeps both the
account and the money. You scrutinize
the former. but never handle the latter.
on the other hand, every st orekeeper
keeps a strong box, safe or silver room,
and employs one or more clerks to look
after the white metal. This arrangement
makes as much trouble in paying a bill as
in mourning one. The storekeeper weighs
your money and examines every piece
while your servant does the same to what
ever change lie receives.
The stores are small, smaller, smallest.
Hundreds are scarcely more than mere
booths. The largest are not more than 20
feet front and 100 deep. Department stores
are unknown. The rule is for one shop To
sell one thing. A silk store looks like a
brown paper estahii-' or the delivery
room OF lauiIu4, .,o-.c of the goods is
exposed to view. Each roll is done up in
fine White tissue paper; this in turn in firm
Hsht-brown paper, and this in the strong
est gray-brown paper. one paper is sure
death to ants, reaches, moths, flies, spiders
and mice. Another is waterproof and al
most fircproof. All three are dustproof
and dampproof. on the outside OF each
parcel is an inscription stating the color,
pattern, width, quality and quantity.
The clerks are men, and are very neatand
polite They Will climb up a light Ladder
to the top shelf near the ceiling bring
down a parcel, open it on the counter and
display the material, and reverse the proc
ess hundred times over witbou changing
the rich professional smile which marks
the calling.
The counters are either made of dark
hard wood, polished until it shines, or else
are covered with black oilcloth. A sales
man or servant keeps them spotless with
damp cloth, followed up by a dry one
There is no display or attempt at beauty.
Chaffering is very rare Both merchant and
customer know the value OF the goods, so
that there is no debate over the price. This
state OF things is in strong contrast with
what prevails in the baZaars OF Indian and
Egypt, where a trader often asks ten times
the value of his wares and cries real tears
of grief when he sells them at five times
their proper price.
Another extraordinary style of shopping
results from the odd social conditions OF
China. The ladies OF that land all undergo
the process of foot binding, and are un-
able to travel about except with the great
est difficulty In addition to this dis
qualification it is considered UNIV omanly
When q Chinese lady desires the pleasure
OF shopping she sends a servant to her
favorite dealer, with instructions as to
her particular desires. The dealer there
upon takes down enough material to load
anywhere from four TO ten porters and
goes around with the invoice tO the lady's
home.
y European lady can enjoy the same
privilege without any extra charge or any
increase in the price OF goods There are
very few novelties n the Oriental shop
ping world. Almost everything fashionable
| is prescribed by law as well as custom. The
| pattern OF your dress was probably patented
5000 years ago, and the cuts of your
pantaloons and jackets were designed in
forgotten centuries. There is one field,
however, where the children OF the East
can give points and then discount their sis
! ters of the west, and that is n rich under
wear.
Silks and grass cloth Indian muslns and
| pineapple cloths are employed of qualities
| finer than nine -tenthS of those we call the
best. This material, worthy of a king s ran
| som. they embroider until the garment is u
, veritable blaze of Splendor / saw while in
| China apairof fpantaloons which were he avy
| with decorations in gold thread, pearls, and
| precic us stones, and have admired under
| Jackets and underwaists which were so
| extensively embroidered that it was diff
| cult to determine the material OF which
| they were made. The wife of a mandarin
| of my acquaintance had several sets Of
underwear that were worth $500 and
| $400 a set.
| All of these quaint goods are handled by
| male statesmen, and never by women. 1t
| is very trying at first to women brought
| up under the system which prevails in the
| West. To cap the climax, for ali your gar
| ments you are supposed to be measured and
! fitted by male drcssmakers. The women
| are regarded as interiors, and are only al
| lowed to do what sewing and darning that
| may be necessary in the conduct of the
| household. There are no express wagons
and no delivery wagons. Everything il
carried by porters, from a spool of cotton
up to a trunk full of clothing.
| They are much more powerful than tn ey
look, and will carry heavy loads under i
| tropical sun without complaint or murnur
| There are no trade marks and no particular
| means of identifying goods. When YOU
! want to duplicate anything you go to the
dealer from whom you bought it. If yoJ
| boughti5 yesterday, well and good. II you
| bought it from his father twenty-five years
| years ago, well and good, or from his grand
| father fifty years, or his great grand
! father seventy-five years, it is the same
and if ten years hence you desire an extra
| yard of the same material, you get it from
the same man at the same place or, il HI
| has passed away, from his son or grandson
| The East is very pleasant for shopping but
| the shopping is not one whit like what pre-
walls in the department stores and dry
| goods palaces OF the great American cities
| From Trafficdom.
| O
| GOMEZ ON AUTONOMY.
II