The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-13
DAY IN HONG KONG
The Atkinson Editor Sees the
Sights From a Ricksha.
As Usual the Cinnamon Are
Pulling Him Around.
HE BUYS HIM TUXEDO
Street Sprinkling System Like
Housewife at Home.
Is Sick and Disguised With
Chinese and Their Ways.

Monday, December A.
am seeing duplicate wonders now
in Hong Kong, the rickshas are used
in getting about, and Cinnamon pull
them at the usual japanese trot
There are very few Sedan chairs, com
pared with the rickshas, and the Sc
dan chairs are clumsy: riding in one
is about as comfortable as riding on
an elephant. Every time I see a wo-
man riding in a Sedan chair Carried
on the shoulders of two men) I think
of a circus beauty riding an elephant.
rider in a Sedan chair hobs about
very much as rider on the back of
an elephant does.
A man living in country produc-
ing delicious milk, learns to like it. 1t
is almost impossible to get milk in
the Orient. Today 1 made a pill
grimage to place known as The
Dairy Farm, to- get a glass of butter
milk. It was very poor stuff, and /
couldn't drink it. Most of the butter
here comes from Sweden and Aus
tralia.
When [ go out at the front entrance
of the hotel, there is a rush of rick
sha men to secure my patronage.
These are roughly driven back by a
big black policeman from India: here,
British subjects from India. In ad-
dition to the police, a regiment of
soldiers from India is stationed here
and the Indian population is quite
large; so large that the race has a
special cemetery, and a very beauti-
full one. These people of India should
not feel so big: India is oppressed and
ruled by the English, in spite of a
great population, and great terri
tory; the three hundred million peO-
pie of India are as much the slaves of
the whites as are the Chinese. The
Japanese are the only brown people
who have ever successfully resisted the
whites: the MOors, the Spanish, the
chinese. the Indians, the Filipinos,
the Africans, the Mexicans, etc, have
seldom successfully resisted the white
pressure.
Along the water front in Hong
Kong may be seen hundreds of Chi
nese house boats: little affairs in
which Chinese families live all their
lives: these boats pass from father to
son, as is the case with the American
farms and houses and lots. These boats
afford very little protection from the
weather, yet the people seem to thrive
In them. Indeed, the Chinese gener-
Of fat Chinese particularly women.
are seen. Many Chinese mothers car
ry their babies on their backs, as do
Japanese mothers: today 1 have
seen GnlHSSG I4OLA6IS WOlhAllS d. t4cAA u
labor, with babies strapped to their
backs. And how the babies bobbed
around without complaining! A cry
ing baby in China or Japan is rare.
Today I saw nine Chinese women
pulling a heavy dray; a good many
of the small boats are operated entire
~ by women. The Chinese ricksha
men. almost without exception, go
barefoot: the Japanese wear sandals
which seems to be made of rice
straw. The Japanese horses are also
shod with shoes made of rice straw.
Many of the Chinese workmen I have
seen. today We're entirely naked, ex-
cept cloth about the loins. The
Chinese of Hong Kong are much
cleaner in their habits than are the
Chinese at Shanghai. where Ameri-
can and English women constantly
find It necessary to turn their heads.
ordered a tuxedo at Hong Kong.
the inducement being the ridiculous
ly low price. The Chinese tailor meas
ured me at 2 o'clock and tried it on"
three hours later. He told me his best
workmen received a dollar day,
Mex, or about fifty cents of our money.
Think of an American coat maker
working for fifty cents a day!
My tailor brought his samples to my
room, measured me in my room, and