The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-21
Careful About Stealing.

There is still another good thing
| about a Chinese crew from a pas
senger's standpoint. A Chinamanq will
rarely steal from you in way that
you will ever find out. He may take
q few cents each day or small trinket
from a collection Of trinkets and a lit
tie of this and a little Of that which
you will never miss. # he does over
step the canons Of Chinese thievery,
you will not have to J.. have him ar
rested and appear at a justice court to
prove case. You can go down on the
main deck the next day and see how
he looks in stocks where he is placed
and kept in full>view Of every one Just
so that there may be no doubt in the
minds Of anyone on board that he real.
ly is a thief. .iI
The Chinese crews are shipped at
Hongkong, each crew being engaged for
the round trip. The agents who fur
nlsh them bond themselves to become re-
and so powerful is the hold which the
coolies guild has over his life and ac-
tions that if he does anything during
his employment on board that causes
his bondsmen to lose money, he might
as well not return to China. The Chin
csc guild is a wonderful thing, and it
rules and controls all Chinese trades
more absolutely than the labor unions
of this country have ever dreamed Of
controlling the trades here. A China
man does nothing without the consent
and approval Of his guild, and his obe-
dience to its laws and regulations must
be implicit if he hopes to live and work
in China.
The Omnipotent emo. l Boy
After a Chinese crew has been Sc
cured, European in Hongkong takes
the gang in charge and fumigates them
for a sufficient amount per head to
enable him to live in one of the finest
houses on the Peak. Then the various
portions of the crew are put in charge
of emo. / Boys as they are called.
For example, emo. l boy'' in the pas.
senger department. has charge Of all
the kitchen, pantry, dining room and
cabin forces. If you have trouble with
your room boy, do not threaten him
with the steward, or even with his
them at all, for the worst they can give
him iy a good beating, which the orien-
tai takes very philosophically. Re
member that Mol boy' is his bogey.
No. | boy' is the one who can make
life miserable for him in China, If he
SO desires, and it s terrible thing for
him to offend Ono. 1 boy. !" Accord
1nglY, IL IS mo- boy whom the
captain, the chief officer, the purser
and the steward take around with
them on their daily trips of inspec-
ton. Whenever anything is discov-
cred that needs remedying, the officers
tell emo. / boy,n and he will get more
work and quicker results out Of a COO
lie than whole ship brass buttoned
crowd.
Bodies Must. Be Returned.
Before a coolie will consent to ship
he must have a guarantee that in case
Of death his body will be brought back
to his native country. This agreement
is always kept by the ship IS captain.
sometimes against the protest Of the
owners Of the vessel Not so MANY
years ago one Of the large steamships
in the oriental service had the, temer-
itY to ignore the Chinese custom in
this respect and buried Chinese BODY
at sea. As soon as The ship touched at
Shanghai the news Of this action was
assiduously spread. Immed iately a
boycott was organized against that
| particular shipping company, and it
was nearly two years before it was
| able TO secure a single Chinese passen-
ger By strenuous effort and by the
expenditure of bride money to secure