The Grit-advocate., 1901-05-24
CHEAPER TO BUY THAN TO
HIRE HUMAN CREATURES.
pave Girls More Common than Slave
Boys-Ths Girls Fetch from Ten to
Ono Hundred Dollars In south ChIna'n
Markets.


SOC. 100000 families, and this makes one
slave to every eight families. The av-
erage is greater in south China, where
nearly every one owns slaves. There
is scarcely a Chinese family OF means
in Nankin, Canton. Macao, or Annoy
but possesses one or mere slave girls.
Slave boys are less common, but the
girls are found in every street and in
almost every house. Girls fetch from
f2 to f2O and upward in south China.
They are sold at any age from to Is,
and most commonly at or 8. The
prettiest girls are most desirable. as in
case of marriage or sale they will bring
more to the family which buys them.
Most of the slave girls are bought to
work about the house. 1t is cheaper
to buy servant than to hire one. for If
you take a girl Of you can have her
services until she is Is, getting eight
years of work for nothing but her
board and clothes, and then sell her for
perhaps ten times your original price.
theoretically, there are no slaves In
Hong Kong. as it is British territory.
but in reality the city is full of them.
They are maid servants and nurses OF
the Chinese. Every small-footed lady
needs slaves to help her about. and in
the houses Of the rich, where there are
many daughters, it Is not uncommon
to find from twenty to thirty slaves
In single family. Female slaves are
often presents from one man to an
other, and not infrequently they form
part Of the bridal outfit They are
commonly, bought. as secondary wives,
and often as teachers. There are To-
calities in China where the girls are
noted for their beauty. The cities of
Yang-Chau and Su"Chau are as ia
nous for rearing handsome young
girls as is Georgia in the Caucasus.
from where rich Turks so often obtain
their wives There are persons In
these cities who make business OF
raising slave girls. They search the
country about for promising young
girls and put them through a regular
course of training. They have farms
where the slaves are taught to sing.
play upon musical instruments, and to
acquire the other accomplishments
which, added 20 beauty. will cause
them to sell for high plsces to the
rich mandarins. These girls are
chiefly the daughters of poor people or
the daughters Of slaves. 1t is common
for a man to purchase his wife In
deed, there are more wives acquired in
this way than in any other. Every
man in China has a light to as many
wives as he can maintain. and a Sec
ondary wife is cheaper than hired
servant. The first wife is the legal
one, but the others have their rights,
although they are practically slaves
The man who is addicted to the opium
habit will sell his children, and not in
frequently his wife, TO supply his ap-
petite. Wives are sometimes sold by
gambling husbands. being put up on
the turn of a card or the rake-Out of
the cash at fan-taR. There are slave
brokers in all the large Chinese cities
Their business increases at times Of
famine, and the starvation which
lately prevailed in north China caused
many parents to sell their children.
With some It was a question Of allow
ing them to starve or selling them.
The result is that girl babies are
drug in Tie market.
Think of buying baby for shil-
ling! This is the price which one Of
the infant asylums of Shanghai is said
to pay for them. This is philan
thropic institution, and the children
are bought as matter of charity and
religion. They are reared surrounded
by Christian Influences are taught all