The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-16

sturdiness and hard condition and IT is
found in practice that their legs VIII
stand any amount of rafting over the
hard ground and the stony roads. IT is
almost needless to say that they are Won
derfully sure of foot and cleverr in avoid
ing the holes and drops of a "trappy'
country. In and near the capital twenty
or thirty taels go long way toward BUY
ng the best that are brought to the
hammer, and their keep does not come
to more than about five China dollars
month All they have for food is chopped
straw and mllet, with plenty of hot wa
ter. making up a sort of Cruel which
they eat at odd times by night ana da%
Their natural pace, agreeable to the Chi
nese taste, is a slow jog trot, but under
European hands they soon learn to gal
op at respectable rate. Unluckly, the
breaking Is of the toughest; their mouths
are a. hard as iron, and accustomed to
lie tight held by the head, the reins must
be taken short 20 make them go at all
Moreover when owned by Cinnamon they
are ill-kempt and scraggy, almost man
gy in their coats. Nothing is done to inn
prove the stamp, and, unlike the native
princes of India, the high officials do
nothing to help the farmers and carriers
by introducing better strains of blood
Efficiency of Labor.
Labor in China varies in its efficiency ac-
cording to place and, curiously unlike
Europe seems TO vary inversely with the
temperatures of the climate. Al Ilen ism
and the northern ports it takes much long
er to load and unload cargo than at the
ports of the Yang-Tse, and the husbandry
of the soil shows less care in the northern
provinces than il does lower down. In
fact the northerners seem inclined TO nj
bernate and allow the rigor of the win
ter 10 uman them instead of squirting
them to activity Sun, after watching
gangs of coolies working in many places
IL may safely be asserted that the average
Zest and genuineness of their labor are SUI
perior 10 those of any nation, with, per-
haps, The exception of our own. From
this 1t does not follow that the Chinaman,
ike the London "docker," does not know
how TO play "ca canny'' when he chooses.
| had the experience OF being aboard one
of the last of the China merchants steam
ships to leave Tongku before the Pelho
was closed by ice 10 water traffic, and the
coolies employed happened TO be in receipt
of monthly wages Ii was neither their
object nor their desire to shut down FOR
the winter too quickly, so they resolved
TO take full time and something more in
getting the cargo aboard, both from the
wharf and at Tongku and outside the Ia
ku bar from lighters.
Ii CHANGED that this cargo mainly con-
sisted of peanuts from Canton packed in
matted bags of the toughest make. Eaeh
bag was passed 10 the compradors clerk,
who stuck a tally into the sack, and II
was then hooked on by row of coolies in
10 the ships hold. Not only was it posi-
BILE to make all this a very slow process,
but the lingering could be turned 10 "A
practical purpose. The hook, If judicous-
~ inserted, caused constant stream OF
peanuts to fall out, and these We're in
stantly stored in handkerchiefs and taken
as perks" by the hungry workmen II
may be imagined how easily twenty-four
hours were consumed in this pleasant
pastime. When. however, IL is question
OF piecework. either directly or indirectly
through the labor contractor or gang mas
ter who plays so large part IN the IN
dustrlal organization of the Celestial en-
pire, the hours are miraculously shorten
ed. and the ships seldom exhaust the given
time in port before they are ready TO 20
10 sea or up-river as the case may be.