The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-20

ty taels go long way toward buying
the best that are brought to the ham
mer, and their keep does not come to
more than about five China dollars a
month. All they have for food is chop
ped straw and millet, with plenty of
hot water, making up sort of cruel,
which they eat at odd times by night
and day. Their natural pace, agreea-
Bile to the Chinese taste, is a slow jog
trot, but under European hands they
soon learn to galop at a respectable
rate. Unluckily, the breaking is of the
toughest; their mouths are as hard as
iron, and accustomed to be tight held
by the head the reins must be taken
short to make them go at all. More
over, when owned by Cinnamon they
are ill-kempt and scraggy, almost man
gy in their coats Nothing is done to
improve the stamp. and, unlike the ma
tive princes Of India, the high officials
do nothing to help the farmers and car
riers by introducing better strains of
blood.
Labor in China varies in it's efficiency
according to place, and, curiously I'M
like Europe, seems to vary inversely
with the temperatures of the climate
At TienTsin and the northern ports it
takes much longer to load and unload
cargo than at the ports of the Yang
Use, and the husbandry of the soil
shows less care In the northern prov
inces than it does lower down. In fact,
the northerners seem inclined to hiber-
nate. and allow the rigor Of the winter
to unman them instead Of squirting
them to activity. STILL after watching
gangs Of coolies working In many places
it may safely be asserted that the aver
age zest and genuineness OF their labor
are superior to those OF any nation,
WITH perhaps. the exception of our own.
From this II does not follow that the
Chinaman, like the London "docker,"
does not know how to play Ca canny"
when he chooses. I had the experience
Of being aboard one OF the last of the
China merchants steamships to leave
Tongku before the Peiho was closed by
ice to water traffic, and the coolies en-
ployed happened to be in receipt of
monthly wages. 1t was neither their
object nor their desire to shut down for
to take full time and something more
Ill SSlIlHS lIlt Cdf6 80 1UOaI pOtH LlOIl
the wharf and at Tongku and outside
the Taku bar from lighters.
1t CHANGED that this cargo mainly
consisted of peanuts for Canton, packed
in matted bags of the toughest make.
Each bag was passed to the compra-
doris clerk, who stuck a tally into the
sack and it was then hooked on by a
row of coolies into the ships hold. Not
only was it possible to make all this
very slow process, but the lingering
could be turned to practical purpose.
The hook, if judiciously inserted, caus-
ed a constant stream Of peanuts to fall
out, and these were instantly stored in
handkerchiefs and taken as perks" by
the hungry workmen. 1t may be imag-
ined how easily twenty-four hours were
consumed in this pleasant pastime.
When, however, it is a question of
piece-work, either directly or indirectly
the labor contractor or gang
master, who plays so large a part in
the industrial organization of the Celes
tial empire, the hours are mircaulously
and the ships seldom exhaust
the given time in port before they are
ready to go to sea or up-river, as the
case may bell. w. Lawson, in the
London Telegraph.