Cañon City record., 1903-10-22
BEEN HERE SINCE 1872.
Thirty Years In Canon City En-
titles Sing Lee to be Classed
Among Its Pioneers. Some
thing About China and
The Chinese.

Fremont county. in fact, he il one al
it's ..oldest inhabitants" in point of
residence having lived in Canon City
nearly a third of q century.
While in search OF news items a
RECORD representative dropped into
Sing Lees place Of business few days
ago and interviewed him In relation to
things in general and China in particu-
lar. Like most Orientals he is posress-
ed Of retentive memory, but is desti-
tute of humor, Judged by our European
standards, and his stolid, lymphatic
temperament has enabled him to see
only the soberer side Of life, in spite Of
some Of his American experiences.
which have been dramatic and laugh
able enough, at least. 10 the other
fellow.
Sing Lee. like the great majority Of
his countrymen in the United States, Is
from the province OF Canton, and first
came in contact with the "Meiicsn
man" at San Francisco, where he re-
mained for some time doing the
"wsshee wsshee" stunt fora living and
play ing fan tan with his compatriots
for diversion. In the latter he was an
adept "in way. sr- dark and tricks
that are yain." and. IL may be inferred,
that his income was materially In
creased as q result Of his skill in
stacking the cards"
From San Francisco he went to
Sacramento. which was the Mecca for
the Argonauts In quest of the Golden
Fleece forty years ago. and there he
formed n partnership with several
Others of his rare to continue the hu-i-
ness be had abandoned in the city by
the Golden Gate. if Is = far cry frnm
Sacramento o Cheyenne. but this fsct
did not make any difference 10 Sing
Lee and when he got tired Of the Calf
.ornia capital he iourpeyed to w, op'-
ing, which was a buffer territory be-
tween civilization and savsgery in
thai early day
His peregrinations extended from,
Cheyenne 10 Denver and from Denver
to most Of the mining csmps Of the
state. finally rounding up At cNnon
City where he has smassed n financial
competence by that plodding industry
and rigid economy, impossible 10 the
Angio- Saxon, which characterizes tn"
people OF Mongolia. Sing Lee visited
ChinA in 1892, remaining therr iw"
years. Its dead and fossilixed con-
Ia. ..A s.ftf
the hustle and activity of Western life.
aud, finding il insurerably dull. Sing
Lee decided to return to the United
States of which he is n naturalired
citizen.
OF the tens of thousr nd- of Chinamen
that have migrated TO this countrN /.
Mexico. Peru. Chili and other lands
within the last fifty years practically
all OF them have gone out from terri.
tory In the province OF Canton
hardly inraer than Fremont county. in
fact, one might stand upon n hill Of
moderate height and overlook the
country from which I'll Cinnamon on
foreign -oil rave emigrsted.
fight in China three years ago" and
he expressed the opinion that there
must necessarily be internal disorders
in country so large and popuious as
the Flowery Kingdom. The great
trouble in China 10 that it has no
centralized government to speak of,
each viceroy coming his own money,
making his own tariff laws, in fact, do
ing almost everything that independent
governments do, being deprived only
Of the treaty making power.
With 40 much Of decentralization
about its government 1t Is not strange,
according TO Sing Lee, that China
should be impotent to suppress up
risings and that such outbreaks as the
Boxer rebellion OF three years ago
should OCCUR from time to time. 1t
may not be generally known, but Il is
nevertheless true, that the Boxers
troubles, rs we'll As the great Taeping
rebellion OF q generation ago, grew out
Of an agitation which was started to
reform certain evils in the government.
The reform movement In 1900 was
started In much the aane way as our
American tariff agitation. or monetary
question, but soon became unwieldy
and passed out Of the control Of the
reformcrs, spreading over the empire
like wild-dre until the ideas which had
inauguratsd Il had been Lost sight Of,
while the movement was ct its height
the CRY Of China for The Chinsse" and
kill the foreign DEVILS" was injected