The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-06-07
ODDITIES Of shanghai
Ne'er-Do-Wells And Business
Failures Plentiful.
REMITTANCE MEN, TOO.
All Trades Have Cold Angies-Queey
Ways Of Buying and Selling
Foreigners With Gold Bricks
Natives Speculate Heavily.

almost at the end of the earth. Moral
ly, one can say without any hesita-
ton it is at the end and in all the
vcrld has but one competitor for evil,
and that is Port Said, says the Chica-
go News. The two are neck and neck
for laurels of this description. Shang-
hal is the final bit of dead water to
Xhich the fOtsam and jetsam OF che
'tream OF life seems to drift for the
final step In utter stagnation. Here
remittance men" are thick. These I'M
happy creatures are black sheep,
Younger sons and other undesirable
members Of the well-tO-dO families
who are allowed so many pounds a
quarter by their loving friends on the
sole condition that the cash is to be
paid anywhere least of the canal.
So they drift along through India,
down through the native states Of the
Malay peninsula and with short stops
at Singapore and Hongllong they lay
10 for their final collapse in Shangni,
where they meet shoals Of their fes
lows tapping up bad whiskey and Sc
:a at the bars of the various hotels,
according to the recentnesS of the last
allowances.
Next we find large colony of alleg-
ii business rem who have failed to
make good in all other quarters OF
he globe and who have come out to
China to sell some one a gold brick.
!, nese two classes form the matriX
# the foreign unattached residents.
then we have the men who are actu
lily attached to real business houses
With their home offices in the states.
hese are for the most part doing
short sentences and are respectable.
Lastly we have the Shanghai business
nan, who is one of the most strenuous
gentlemen Of his kind to be seen the
world over. He speculates in shares,
Of which there are an enormous var
ety in Shanghai. and by dealing in
which one may easily go broke. These
brokers spend their time tearing up
and down the Bund in their victDrias
drawn by China ponies. They always
ride with one foot on the step in or
der to save time in getting in and out.
At II o'clock every one begins to drift
coward the Shanghai club and by noon
the bar Is packed. BY 2 o'clock tine
rush Is over and only the dead remain,
cached away on sofas here and there
where they have fallen after the bat
tie. At o'clock the rush begins again
and lasts until the small hours in the
morning Everybody in Shanghi
drinks mostly to excess.
Shanghai is hte only place that
know Of where the young men with In
comes from $50 to 800 month are
able to spend twice that sum in week
on their establishments. Yet this seems
| to be the case. This remarkable way
Of living is fostered by the chit sys-
tenn. Chits are small pads OF paper
on which one writes am I. O. u. for
any commodity Or service conceiv-
able. Any man who has a job can
| sign chi S at almost any bar, store
or dive In Shanghi.
If they are successful in their spec
ulaiions they pay their chits and all
goes well. If they fail and are unable
to beg. borrow or steal the means
to meet their obligations they either
kill themselves or go to Cheefoo or
Tientsin, until the trouble blows over,
which it. soon does, aa there are go
many others in the same boat.
The wealthy men OF the place are
mostly youngish fellows OF the kind
described who have prospered in their
investments. These go in heavily for
all sorts Of deals and speculations.
The methods of doing business are
| quaint and. to the westernsn, some
| what cratic. Every man whit is con-
| nected even in the most remote way q
business deal comes In for squeeze
| Of some sort. / knew of case last
year where one man had a boat to sell
and another man who had learned the
description or the boat-for the names
OF principals are withheld by the mid
dlemen, lest the latter be cut out en-
tiTely Eas eager to snap 1t up for
use IN blockade cunning. The only
man whoseould bring the two together
uSCIlue1Q 10 QO 80 uLllcoS ne Wen0 p6lAO
lump sum Of $1,000. If you meet a
man and he intoduces you to another
man who makes you acquainted. with =
third mao who sells you commo-
dirty, Numbers Que and two block all
negotiations until the seller consents
| to share the spodls with them. Ths
result is that after business deal has
gone through many hands there are
SO many to be considered that no one
| gatS much out of it.
The bigger the CRATER the better his
stand in Shanghi. that is, until he
fails, and then he falls from grace and
becomes laughing stock to his
friends. sssS s-Hs
Russian Asiatic possessions are
:hree times the size of Great Britain's,
but hold only 23.000,OOO Inhabitants,
as compared with England's $4,000
00o