The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-03-02
Visitors From Abroad
Are Often Overcharged.

rss,,lt of this principle the foreign
ers must watch their accounts very care
fully 70 proven; overcharSing- 1 know -
one English bachelor whose servant orousnc
him In a bill the other day charging MN
for three pounds of beef every day for p
month This was too much beef for one
man and the bachelor gagged Counsel Gem
eral Goodnow was charged with twenty
cans OF jam during a recent two weeks
visit OF Colonel Conser. our minister at
Pekin. Now, the CONSUL! General and his
wife are both light jam eaters and Col
onel Conyer eats no sweets whatever So.
when the bill was brought in by the sery-
ant. the Consul General laughed and said:
See herr. boy. how come this thing? Be
fore time you have only three cans OF jam
every two weeks Now have twenty cans
We no eat so much jam This bill not
right"
..Oh. yes. MASTER said the boy. Bill
alice iitee. P.kin master belong this side
one week. He eatee plentee jam"
The truth was that Colonel Conger ate no
jam whatever. and the extra seventeen
cans were a pure squeeze on the part OF
the servant. Whether Mr.. Goodnow stood
ii or not i don't know
So far the unions of china have don6
very little as to fixing the hours of labor.
although the weavers' guilds here prohibit
their men from working later than . O'Clock
at night. The average day is twelve or
more hours long and about the only holi-
days are at the end Of the year. The in
vasion OF foreign machinery has increased
wages only at the ports. The pay every
where is very low. ranging from 3 to 10
cents a day for ordinary workmen. and
from IS to 80 cents for skilled Iaborers. In
Fuchow coolies can be hired for from Is
cents to 81 so per month. and good mechan-
les for 10 or 10 cents a day. In other dis
tricts BARRIERS are paid : cents, tailors 10
cents. carpenters IL cents and blacksmiths
IL cents per day
ClOthmakers Work for 7
Two Cents a Day.
/ have seen women making grass cloth
who work about twelve hours for 2 cents:
and an old missionary tells me he can get
ten men to work a whole day for him forI
a dollar. and the contractor who goes OIL
for the gang will take 10 per cent of th/fr
wages for hiring them. Doctors here arc
paid as high as 20 cents a visit: engravers
get 10 cents a day. and a troop Of theater
actors will play forty-eight hours for so.
Farm laborers receive from 10 to Is cents
a day during harvest time. Sometimes they
are hired by the year at $l2. with board
and lodging thrown in This Is big pay.
Notwithstanding these low wages, there
are vast numbers in China who work for
less. Apprentices receive no wages what
ever. In many of the trades they have to
work five years. during which they receive
only food and lodging. In other trades they
work three years. A premium Of money Is
often demanded for taking on an appren-
ship. According to one union Law. no master
can employ an apprentice who has not
served out his full time. and no one can
employ more than a certain number Of ap-
prentices at the same time. Employers
who violate such rules are liable to be
fined by the unions. and manufacturers
who entice apprentices away from other
factories can be fined. Any apprentice who
wants to give up a trade before the end Of
his term may do so. but IN hat case ho
cannot go back Every union has a COPY
of its regulations printed on red paper. and
this Is posted up in the various stores and
workshops so that. there IS no excuse for
either employers or men not knowing what
the rules Of the unions are.
FRAME G. CARPENTER
Copyright. 1902 by F. G. Carpenter.