Arizona republican., 1910-07-13
The Honest Chinaman.


 been travelling for some months in Japan and China, has lost none of his old newspaper instinct for gath ering information. One of the things he has learned in China, according to his last letter, is that the "hon- est Chinaman" is mostly a myth. One of the dearest beliefs concerning the Chinese is that the Chinaman is the worlds best example of personal integrity. In clear style, Burdette gives his own views of Chinese hon. esty:
 "One of the first things you want to forget most utterly, when you land in the Celestial empire, is what you have been taught over and over by many men whose Omniscience is only little less fallible and full of blow holes than my own used to be, that the Chinese are about the only honest peo- pie in the Orient. That with all their faults they are fairly. afflicted with honesty, of which they hold mOnop- oly in the east That in the Japanese banks and business houses they hold all the positions of trust and responsi- bility because the Japanese business men will trust the Chinese where they distrust each other That they are so painfully and minutely honest they are qualified to run for county treasurer on an independent ticket indOrsed by both parties as Honest Old John Anybody" after which the footing of the treasury near the close of the third term is easy as stealing candy from a baby.
 Well, before you come here take something to get great deal of that out of your system. The Chinese are honest in business matters. We have the emphatic testimony of business men of England, Germany and France who have had years of large dealings with them to the effect that they nev- CT lose a penny through Chinese mer- chants. And you do frequently see them in places of trust,-in Japanese. business and commercial houses. Bear in mind that many of the banks in Japan were established by Chinese capital and ability; that much of the stock is held by Chinese capitalists, and that the directors. as is often the case with directors. have nephews and cousins and sons who must browse somewhere, and China is the paradise- and the home land of nepotism. The first thing an official does when he has made sure of his own squeeze which is the Chinese expression for -bo@ and line the pay roll with his relatives. The custom is older than tea drink ing. The 'squeeze-nOthing escapes it. The officials even squeeze the famine funds sent into the country or appropriated by the government, that the office holders may wax fat while the people lie down and die of starva tion.
 We have graft at home, in our Christian land, enough and too much of it. But we have it in spots. Here it is simply universal And known of all men. There is no secrecy about the fact. Any attempt to suppress it would bring the bloodiest revolution ever. Oh, sometimes. when an of ficial goes beyond all reason, and doesn't leave anything for anybody else they do wake up long enough to cut off his head. Does about as much good as it does to send a San Fran cisco CT St. Louis grafter to the peni- tentiary. With only this difference, no complaisant appellate court of po- Iitical judges can glue the head on the man again. Come to look at the nf iGh p Chinese method is vastly superior to ] our own. While we do right to send our missionaries over here, there are yet some most excellent ideas of re- 1 formatory punishment which we may | learn from the Chinese.
 For a people who are notorious for ! corruption in their gov for the accepted customs of | bribing magistrates and hiring wit | nesses and buying justice you won | der where this reputation for sterling | honesty had it's origin. You finally | sigh and determine to accept the mo- torious dishonesty and corruption in matters governmental and public l business and the honesty of the indi | vidual in his dealings with yourself. | as one of the strange contradictions in the Chinese character which you | never will understand. And you do | so accept it. .-
 Just about that time you come | home from a mornings shopping You ascertain, as you count over a pocket | full of change with the obliging hotel | clerk, that about one-third of the sill yer handed you by the honest mer l chants with whom you dealt is money | fo,,, naipbhoring Drovipcec and isn't