The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-31
Clip the Coupon.
G Salt Palace ad. page 8.
CHINESE POOR FOLKS.
The Proportion Is Thousand to One
In the Flowery Kingdom.

a
In the Flowery Kingdom.
A rich Chinaman wears silk, poor
one cotton. Since the proportion of rich
to poor is about one in a thousand, it
follows that the growth and manufac-
ture of cotton are vital necessities 1t
is thought cotton culture was begun in
the thirteenth century, the plant COM
ing in from India, where it has been
known for 2,C00 years. In spite of her
unequaled agriculture China does not
raise cotton for eXDOrt-nor, in fact,
enough for her own needs. In 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 it as posi-
! bic. There are no power gins for
taking out the seed. Instead
the Chinese use the little hand
gins very like those still to be
! found in the hOmeSpun regions of the
Appalachian chain. The gin is nothing
more than a couple or small wooden
rollers made fast in uprights affixed to a
| bench. They are turned by a wooden
crank, revolve one against the other.
ana free the cotton of seed by drawing
the lint through the narrow space be-
tween. The lint is fed to them by hand.
work TO gin five pounds of iint-which
means twenty 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, flaky 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 twirls it steadily.
walking around and around as she
twirls, thus winding the Iengthenine
thread into very long hanks. If it is
spun and run into breaches or Qui!Is.
they are often reeled with a hand-reel.
Chinese industry indeed, is as invet-
crate as Cninese economy. Women
usually work at such Keeling while they
stand and gossip in the alleyWays be-
tween their houses. If there is no reel
handy they will be stitching upon a
shoe sale, always a saleable 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 in-sOleS Of shoes. Bits of
wood are glued to build up either a
board or a post. Women spinners and
straw-plaiters earn cents a day.
The spinning. though, is most common
ly like the weaving at the hand looms.
only part Of unpaid household labor
adj nd e
lcte come to bear heavily upon the cot
ton workers, but that fact is in de-
gree offset by the growing import of
raw cotton. Still some of the light vel
low handmade fabric, known the world
over as nankeen, from the CITY of ex-
port, NanEin, is shipped abroad. II is
made from peculiar yellow staple cot
ton, hence not dyed. The same yellow
staple cotton is grown and manufac-
tured by ArCadians in Louisiana. but
the fabric is so coarse il ioeS not COM.
pete with the Chinese one.
Five dollars year will clothe a. Chi
nese husband and wife something more
than decently. Underwear is unknown
so is fitting a garment. The only meas
ures taken are from the hip to the
ground, and from the middle of the
breast TO the finger tips Fashions do
not change. Winter garments and bed
ding are wadded with cotton. Once a
year they must be ripped apart and
washed, padding and all.
How needful is economy NAV he
judged from a few figures. Unskilled
laborers are paid upon an average 7
cents a day. MasOns, carpenters and
stone-cutters, here as elsewhere. the
aristocracy of labor, get from % to 80
cents a day. Work begins at sunrise
and keeps up until dark. Notwithstand-
ing all this strikes are virtually IN
known. and the Chinese laborer is the
happiest and most contented in all the
world.