Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-03-30

I Two years after a quarrel among
Chinese explained the affair when II
was learned the merchants lease eN-
pired on the building the same nighl
he insured IT, and that coolies We're
/ actually carrying the goods away
| while the agent was writing the pol
/ icy. The owner " this structure car
| rled AS much insurance as he could
| possibly get but desiring 20 erect a
larger building, concluded TO burn the
old one and with that end In View
advised his neighbors to be prepared
for a blaze. AT o'clock In the
| morning lot Of mating went up In
smoke the doors, windows, floors and
even the wooden walls having been
removed by coolies during the even
ing No other building was burned
In fact there was not enough ma.
terial left in the shell TO ondanger ad.
| Joining shacks, which were at once
covered with bucket hrigades, in.
structed hours in advance how to act
That morning the loss was reported
TO the foreign devils and attested by
a hundred coolies at cost of 10
cents in silver per head,
Witnesses are cheap in Chinese
courts of justice, the present price be-
ing fifteen cents In silver, or twenty
five cents for testimony on both sides
Of case. An ordinary everyday
Chinese policeman can be bribed for
20 cents and not one in ten thousand
can resist the temptation of silver
dollar. Graft and squeeze are uni
yersal There is not business con-
cern in China, native or foreign, great
or small, from the most insignificant,
cigar store to the greatest Of foreign
banks but what is subjected TO q
squeeze. All must employ Chinese
compradore or they cannot do bust
ness with the Chinese.
Not even is the British government
immune, its monies being collected
and turned over to it by compradores.
Every bank has its compradore and
all business relations with the Chinese
must pass through his hands. Every
morning so much money is counted
ont to him, and on every transaction
the bank gets q stipulated sum or per-
centage, all the rest is the compra-
dores squeeze. He employs and payr
his own clerks, collectors, tellers, etc.
being responsible for all money in his
possession. Railroads. steamship
companies and every other corpora
ton has its compradorc. He is in
the hotel saloon, store factory and
even the churches, and in each and
all places he must have his squeeze
He may be a millionaire or next to n
pauper, but is looked up to by all as
one TO be copied, and feared by those
who know that he drives bargain
as hard as the necessity he finds in.
lie is initiated by all classes down to
the office boys. Perhaps there are
a dozen of these in an office, one be-
comes the fayorite Of his employer
and at once uses his prestige to
squeeze the rest in a small way, he in
turn being squeezed by some one else.
The system in its lowest phase takes
the form of bribery and blackmail,
and Is the curse of China. It's influ-
sides breeding corruption 1t creates
the belief that every man can be
bought. 1t is older than Chinese rec
ords and so ingrained in the people
that years of struggle against it by
foreign firms and influence has left
this thing where 1t was at the begin
ing, with the compradore on top.
And here we wish to call attention
to another surprise which is in store
for the man who has had it drummed
into his head from childhood to the
very day he puts his feet upon Chin
csc soil. about the honesty and Won
derful ability of the Chinese merch-
ant. Stories and books have it that
the Chinese merchant is supremely
shrewd, patient and the very personi-
fication OF honesty. Set him down IN
a barren island and a few years after
he will have a great emporium hum
ming with business, place him on a
great thoroughfare and in short
time all other merchants will have TO
close UP. lie is a man of integrity.
If he makes a contract to purchase
or sell goods his bare word Is better
than n foreigners bond, for he invari
ably makes good regardless of the
markets turns. You need not exam
inc what he contracts to sell, for it Is
always equal to or better than the
sample. Now the truth is. this char
acter of Chinese gentleman we have
not seen in China and every foreigner
Of the many we have spoken to on
this subject assures us he does not
exist in the country or never did in
in the past seventy-fiye years The