The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-03-03
COOLIES TOLL LIKE HORSES
Scott Nearing Describes China Conditions
By SCOTT NEARING.

OA IllG
farms they lift and carry as their
forefathers have done for genera
tions.
But China is being industrialized.
In place of the mattocKs, reaping
hooks and bundles Of grain, the Chr
neso city workers must handle the
machines and machine tools, thl
heavy raw products and the BUN
commodities which industrializatiol
produces. Since men are cheaper
than horses, the physical burdens o,
indus Jrialization are being carried Oh
human backs at the cost of immenso
hardship and suffering.
The COOlie Cry.
Last summer our ship sailed VI
the Yangtse River toward Shanghai.
Just below the city on the leftbanh,
we passed close to the coal docks,
where Japanese coal was being trans
ferred from barges to storage yards.
The containers in which the coal Was,
carried were big baskets which he'll
from $50 to 800 pounds. From the
mold into these baskets the coal was
shoveled. Then Two Chinese coolies,
with the basket between them on
bamboo pole made their way ashore
and trudged off to the storage piles,
which were in some cases nearly
quarter of a mile away. The sun was
intensely hot, yet all day long these
| lines of sweating men passed back
and forth from the hold OF the ship
to the storage pile.
AS they walked, the Shanghai
coolies uttered the peculiar cry for
which they are famous. Something
between a warning and a protest. IL
sounds like a chant, and there is
about it the same pathetic tone that
characterized the labor songs of the
American slaves.
Heavy Cargo.
Our ship carried a heavy cargo
for Shanghai. Among other things
there were 1000 tons of pig-lead. The
lead was lifted from the hold of the
vessel by steamcrane which dropped
dozen pigs at a time with loud
clatter on the wharf, where waiting
coolies hooked the ropes of their
carrying poles under the pigs. Each
pair of men carried two pigs (4O0
pounds). For hours they passed
from the ship to distant storage
warehouse,-thet temporary destina-
ton for the lead. The wharf and the
shore were on the same level. A very
small expenditure would have pro-
vided rails, on which hand-cars could
have been pushed back and forth
from the dock to the warehouse.
Coolies will work in Shanghai, how
ever, for about seven or eight
American dollars per month, so they
do the work of horses or machines,
and the company saves money.
Human Tracks.
The ship also carried cargo of
American automobiles, each one of
which was Grated in a separate box.
The weight of automobile and box
was about 5000 pounds. Down in the
hold eight coolies with carrying poles
and ropes shifted these boxes under
The hatchway. They were then lifted
by crane and dropped on four
wheeled cart. This cart was pulled
up an incline by gang of men,
hitched to ropes. When they reached
the street level, they dumped the box
containing the automobile and re-
turned for another load.
A little later motor truck came
along to take the boxed aut omobiles
from the wharf to the show-rooms.
Men lifted one end of the automobile
case, the truck was backed under it,
he back end was then lifted by man
power and pushed forward on to the
truck. With the exception of the
ships crane which hoisted the auto
mobile out of the hold and the truck
which carried it across the wharf,
the whole operation with this bulky
piece of machinery was performed by
hand.
Some years ago an American suf-
fering from paralysis invented the
lricksha. Its use has spread through
he commercial centers of China. Two
light wheels; a body strong enough
to carry the weight of man; two
poles stretched out in front far
enough to permit man to run with
out striking the vehicle behind him;