Evening star., 1900-12-22

demanded that all the questionable women
of the town should be brought to his palace
" hen they came he told them that he in
tended to make honest wives of them by
selling them at auction to the hlgneSt DID
ders. He sent forth a proclamation that
they would be for sale only to bachelors,
and that no one could buy more than one
There were several score females In the
party and the sale attracted a great crowd.
When the hour for the auction came the
Judge and the chief of police acted as auc-
tioneers They announced to the assembly
that the would-be purchasers could each
select a wife from those in the ard, ana
that she would be put up and sofa Dy
weight The men hung back, but at last
an old farmer walked uD and picked out
stout hearty woman of forty. Nv eign
herr said the judge, and, screaming ana
kicking she was put on the scales: Ninety
catties,' said the weigher. But how mucn
a catty," asked the farmer rather scared
lest his money should not be enough to pay
for so much woman. The sale stopped 1or
a moment for curiously enough nothing had
been said about the price per catty. IN :
old judge, however, Immediately asked:
What is the price of pork today! Ninety
cash a catty," replied the police officer
Then sell them at ninety cash. order,d d
the judge, and at that price she was sold:
Ninety cash at the present valuation would
not be more than cents in gold, SO that
the farmer really paid about $3.50 for his
wife. After the first sale the women went
off rapidly, and by night the last one was
sold.
Slave Brokers'.
am told there are slave brokers in all the
large Chinese cities. Their business increases
a. times of famine, and the starvation
which now prevails in North China will
cause many parents to sell their children.
With some it will be a question Of allowing
them to starve or selling them, and the
chances are that girl babies will be a drug
in the market. Think Of buying a baby for
20 cents. This Is the price which one OF
the infant asylums Of Shanghai pays for
them. The asylum is missionary institu-
ton and the children are bought as mat
ter of charity and religion. They are reared
surrounded by Christian influences, are
taught all sorts of domestic duties. and
when they arrive at the proper age are
given respectable husbands.
The brokers' rule, do not buy babies.
The cost of rearing them and the risk of
death is too great. They prefer to have
girls or boys of eight years and upward.
The prices vary in different localities. l am
told that in Pekin girl of ten or twelve is
V orth from $50 to $35, while young women
will bring from $3.50 to $500. Girls as a
rule sell higher than boys, except in the
case of a family wanting a likely boy for
adoption. In buying slaves the broker often
insists on them being left with him for
while before concluding the deal. He takes
them on trial just as you would take
horse. He wants to find out if the animals
healthy and sound. The greatest
danger Is 1eprosy. There are many lepers
all over China, and in the first stages the
disease is hard to detect One method Is to
examine the slave in a dark room under
blue light. If this shows that the skin is
of greenish tinge the slave is all right.
but If the tnge is reddish it is a sign Of
leprOsy.
Some Queer Slave Laws.
Slavery is sanctioned by Chinese laws.
1t has existed from the earliest period of
was United States minister to China
he sent the Secretary of State a re-
por, on the subject in which he men,
tioned some of the laws. He said that
slaves who strike their masters and there
by kill them are sliced to death. If they
kill them accidentally they are strangled,
and if they accidentally wound them they
are subject to 100 blows and banishment.
Oh the other hand, If the master beats the
slave to death for committing crime he
suffers 100 blows. He has the right to in
f1ct certain punishments upon the slaves.
He can sell the children of his slaves and
h.. can sell his children.
There are labor slaves IN China. They
have been worked within recent years in
the coal mines west Of Pckin. There Is
a systematic scheme in that region to in
voive men in gambling debts and then take
them to the coal mines to make them work
them out. Once in the mines they are sub
ject to fines and other charges which make
them slaves for life. The Chinese govern
nlent recently learned of this condition, and
it has taken some steps to put a stop to
the abuses, but 1 am told that it still exists.
You see in nearly every Chinese city
class of women who go from house to house
rending clothes. They come to the fami-
lies of foreigners and do their darnlng and
patching. sitting in the halls or the door
steps as they work. Some of these women
are practically slaves. They have been
first or secondary wives, but their husbands
have grown tired of them and have sent
them out TO work for themselves and for
them. FRANK G. CARPENTER.