We had a soil tube made in the shops of a large English ship building and repair firm, employing many hundred Chinese as mechanics, using the most modern and complex machinery, and the foreman stated that as soon as the men could understand well enough to take orders they were even better shop hands than the average in Scotland and England.  An educated Chinese booking clerk at the Soochow railway station in Kiangsu province was receiving a salary of $10.75, gold, per month.  We had inquired the way to the Elizabeth Blake hospital and he volunteered to escort us and did so, the distance being over a mile.

He would accept no compensation, and yet I was an entire stranger, without introduction of any kind.  Everywhere we went in China, the laboring people appeared generally happy and contented if they have something to do, and showed clearly that they were well nourished.  The industrial classes are thoroughly organized, having had their guilds or labor unions for centuries and it is not at all uncommon for a laborer who is known to have violated the rules of his guild to be summarily dealt with or even to disappear without questions being asked.  In going among the people, away from the lines of tourist travel, one gets the impression that everybody is busy or is in the harness ready to be busy.  Tramps of our hobo type have few opportunities here and we doubt if one exists in either of these countries.  There are people physically disabled who are asking alms and there are organized charities to help them, but in proportion to the total population these appear to be fewer than in America or Europe.  The gathering of unfortunates and habitual beggars about public places frequented by people of leisure and means naturally leads tourists to a wrong judgment regarding the extent of these social conditions.  Nowhere among these densely crowded people, either Chinese, Japanese or Korean, did we see one intoxicated, but among Americans and Europeans many instances were observed.  All classes and both sexes use tobacco and the British-American Tobacco Company does a business in China amounting to millions of dollars annually.

During five months among these people we saw but two children in a quarrel.  The two little boys were having their trouble on Nanking road, Shanghai, where, grasping each other’s pigtails, they tussled with a vengeance until the mother of one came and parted their ways.

Among the most frequent sights in the city streets are the itinerant vendors of hot foods and confections.  Stove, fuel, supplies and appliances may all be carried on the shoulders, swinging from a bamboo pole.  The mother in Fig. 63 was quite likely thus supporting her family and the children are seen at lunch, dressed in the blue and white calico prints so generally worn by the young.  The printing of this calico by the very ancient, simple yet effective method we witnessed in the farm village along the canal seen in Fig. 10.