The Lamar register., 1902-06-04
THE LAUNDRY CHECK
ODD CHINESE BOOKKEEPING.
Identifies Customers by Descriptions
Instead of Names-Receipts Are
After the Fashion Of the Old Legal
indenture-couId an American Do
as Well in China.


The ingenuity of the Mongolian mind
Is well displayed in their system of
accounts and checks in the laundry
business. If their written language
were ms scientific and accurate as our
own, it would be an excellent creation,
hut they labor under many disadvan-
tIges which are unknown to the civil
liZcd people of the world. There are
no characters in Chinese for letters
or any such simple variations as Ro-
man and Arabic numerals. 1t is,
therefore. impossible to translate or
transliterate into Chinese such COM
mon marks as. A., 1, or w., 6. In
ideographs for the commoner facts of
life, such as "house." 'moon," dog"
''lion," bear" table" CHAIR and
street"
In addition to these he employs the
numcral characters from one up to
100
a customer comes to n laundry un-
able to speak Chinese, and delivers his
wash to man unable to speak Eng
lish. He receives in return n check
containing two characters. One rep
resents the day of the week or month,
and the second one of the facts men-
toned, such as moon" or Zion" The
slip is torn through the middle, upon
the principle of the legal indenture.
1t is impossible to initiate the torn
piece so that 1t will fit the half re-
tained by the laundry. Then upon the
day book of the laundry the proprie-
tor enters under the day of the week
or the month the Telegraph moon or
lion assigned to the customer and be-
meath this the articles left to be laun-
dercd. He then takes down from
hook lot of muslin tags on which
are written in indelible ink moon"
or "lion," 1, 2, 3, and so on. One
of these tags is affixed to each article,
excepting the cuffs and collars. To
these one tag Is fixed, which is fas-
tened by n strong thread or cord tied
through the buttonhole in each article.
In addition to this they often put Il
private mark upon the article to be
cleaned, although this Is not very com
mon. When the goods are washed and
ironed they are done up in Il package,
and the day and special character
written on the outside. In addition to
this the half ticket Is fastened to II
with pin. When the customer en-
tiers he gives his half ticket up, and
if he is known by sight the package
Is oNtE 10 lllhl IL lS 10 iot
known, or is suspected of being Il
confidence operator, his half ticket is
fitted to the laundry half ticket before
the package is handed over.
The day book is often amusing read
ing. 1t is difficult to write Western
names in Chinese characters, and in
most cases impossible. The laundry
man, therefore. writes down some sa-
lient feature of the customers. In
doing this they manifest quick per-
ception and considerable humor
o-Gold-Tooth" appears on the
same page with "Red-Head-Scar-
Cheek" "Red-Nose Man" follows "Old
Woman with White Hair" "Man-
Who-Looks-Like-HO Horse ''Man-With-
Much-Long- Hair "Very-Tall-Thin"
and "NIan-Very- Fat-Jolly" are famil-
iar entries Often the customer is
described by his calling. grocer, butch
er. policeman. carriage man or express
man: doctor and dentist are frequent
titles. Upon this system the little
laundryman transacts his business
with great smoothness and satisfac-
tion. 1t may be asked If an American
would do as well in the Flowery
Kingdom?