The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1900-08-27
POOR FOLKS IN CHINA.
Their Earnings Very Small and
Their Industry Unremitting.
NOTHING WASTED IN TIE EMPIRE.


Used For Fuel-Underwear I'm.
knovAs and Five Dollar. VIII,
Clothe Man and Wife Decentlx.
How Cotton IL Manufactured.
A rich Chinaman wears silk, a Door
one cotton. Since the proportion OF
rich to poor is about one to q thousand.
IL follows that the growth and manu-
Iacture OF cotton are OF prime necessi.
ty. 1t Is thought cotton culture was
begun In the thirteenth century. the
pidnt coming from India where 1t has
been known for 1000 years. In spite
OF her unequaied agriculture China
ooes not raise cotton for export nor, in
Iact. enough for her own needs, saws
the New York Sun. ia the growth and
manufacture OF It. as in everything
else. the aim Is not. as In the United
states. to save hand labor. but to use
as much OF II as possible There are
no power gins for taking out the seed.
instead the Chinese use little hand
gins very like those still to be found In
the homespun regions of the Appala
chan chain. The gin Is nothing more
N-RN - NOuI'iO VI WOOueH
made FAST In uprigbts affixed TO a
bench. They are turned by a wooden
crank. revoivc one against the other
and free the cotton of seed by hra wing
the lint through the narrow space be-
tween. The liut is fed TO them by
hand. and it takes u long and steady
days work to gin fiVe pounds of lint,
which means 20 pounds OF cotton in
the seed.
The cotton is carded simultaneously
with the ginning. A second man stands
at the end Of the bench beating the
clean cotton with the tee-kung, or
earth bow, into big fiaky'b bats These
bats the women spin in various ways.
Sometimes they use the old fashioned
spinning wheel. Much Oftener it is
something approximating the ancient
diStaff. The spinner twrls it steadily.
walking around and around as she
twirls, thus winding the lengthening
thread into very long hanks. If it is
spun and run into breaches or quilts,
they are often reeled with hand reel
Chinese industry indeed is as invet-
crate as Chinese economy. Women
usually work at such reeling while
they stand at gossip in the alleyways
between their houses. If there is no
reel handy, they will be stitching upon
shoe sole, always a salable article.
Bare feet are unknown in China Even
a beggar wears shoes, though he may
have no other clothing than the head
bowl, which serves both as a hat and
to hold out when there is a chance of
aims.
Nothing is wasted in China. Even
grass and wheat roots are pulled up
washed, dried and used for fuel. Scraps
OF paper and cloth are pasted together
to make the insoles of shoes. Bits Of
wood are glued to build up either a
| board or q post Women Spinners and
| straw plaiters earn cents q day. The
| spinning, though, is most commonly,
| like the weaving at the hand looms on
ly part of unpaid household labor.
| Machine made cloth and thread have
| Of late come to bear heavily upon the
| Gotten workers. but that fact is in a de-
gree Offset by the growing imports of
raw cotton. Still some of the light yell
| low handmade fabric, known the
world over as nankeen, from the city
of export, Nankin, is shipped abroad.
| 1t is made from peculiar yellow sta
pie cotton; hence not dyed. The same
yellow staple cotton is grown and man-
ufactured by Acadians in louisiana.
but the fabric is so coarse that 1T does
not compete with the Chinese article.
Five dollars year will clothe Chi
nese husband and wife something more
than decently. Underwear is unknown.
So ia fitting garment. The only
measures taken are from the hip to the
ground and from the middle of the
breast to the finger tips. Fashions dc
not change. Winter garments and bed
ding are wadded with cotton. Once g
year they must be ripped apart and
washed, padding and ALL
How needful is economy may be
Judged from a few figures. Unskilled
laborerS receive upon an average
cents a day. Masons, carpenters and
stonecutters, here as elsewhere the
aristocracy of labor, get from 25 to &c
cents a day. Work begins at sunrise
and keeps up until dark. Strikes are
virtually unknown, and the Chinese la
borer is the happiest and most con
tented in all the world.
|