166 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



mills operating in Louisiana, and about 

 twenty new ones will soon be erected there 

 and in Texas, the majority of which will 

 be in the latter state, for the milling of 

 the coming crop. The cultivation of rice 

 in the Louisiana and Texas coast country 

 has advanced land values from $1.00 in 

 1880 to $20.00 in 1901. Farm Machinery. 



THE CHINESE IN AMERICA. 



We are pleasantly introduced to the cu- 

 rious Chinese and their peculiar customs 

 by Sunyowe Pang who tells the readers of 

 the January Forum a very entertaining 

 story of the Chinese in America. As we 

 are confronted with the Chinese question 

 in an acute form Mr. Pang proceeds to in- 

 form us that: 



"It is the general impression among 

 Americans that the Chinese in this coun- 

 try are parsimonious. This is not the 

 case. The Chinese have earned enormous 

 amounts of money to be sure, but they 

 have also spent largely. Their savings 

 may be estimated as not more than ten per 

 cent of what they earn, which is very often 

 permanently invested in this country, and 

 does not go to China. Laborers seldom 

 save anything, and this is as true of the 

 Chinese as of other nationalities. In the 

 first place, the Chinaman is usually 

 charged more for what he buys than any 

 one else, and again he is inclined to be a 

 spendthrift when he can. He is an epi- 

 cure in his own way. He is also fond of 

 silk clothes and expensive shoes. Very 

 often he is a gambler. The actual needs 

 of the Chinaman are greater'in this coun- 

 try than in China. The climate in the 

 Kwang-tung provinces is so'mild that all 

 he requires at home is a thin cotton blouse 

 and trousers, and two extra garments for 

 winter. His hat is of roughly plaited 

 straw, and he wears straw sandals. In 

 this country, he must wear woolen* under- 

 clothing, a felt hat, and leather boots if a 

 laborer. His boots in America 'cost four 



or five times as much as his whole outfit 

 in China. 



The food bought by the Chinese is often 

 quite as expensive as that of the whites. 

 Instead of living almost altogether on rice 

 and chop sooy, as ii the general impres- 

 sion, Chinamen, being quite as fond of 

 meat as Americans, buy pork, beef and 

 chickens. Chop sooy is made to sell to 

 curious white persons who visit China- 

 town. In the vicinity of every large city 

 where there is any considerable Chinese 

 colony there are truck gardens devoted to 

 rasing vegetables exclusively from seed 

 brought from their native land. These 

 vegetables are unknown to Americans. 

 But the Chinese also consume large quan- 

 tities of the finer kinds of American veg- 

 etables. The Chinaman has a sweet tooth 

 also; and in the best Chinese restuarants 

 in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and 

 other large cities, th best of wines are 

 served to Chinese as well as American 

 customers, together with the finest and 

 most expensive fooda. In the average 

 Chinese restaurant in those cities good 

 board can be had by the Chinese for from 

 fifteen to twenty dollars a month, and 

 these restaurants are largely patronized. 

 As a rule, the Chinamen are compelled to 

 lodge in mean quarters; but in New York 

 and San Fransifco there are a number of 

 well-appointed homes, occupied by the 

 families of well-to-do Chinese merchants, 

 which the American seldom or never sees. 

 In New York there is an apartment house, 

 up-to-date in every respect, occupied by 

 Chinese families. The Chinaman sticks 

 as closely as he can to the traditions and 

 customs of his country, which are strange 

 to the Occidental, and tnerefore, a subject 

 for comment and often for derision. 



There are not many rich Chinamen in 

 America; but some of them are very well 

 off, with fortunes ranging from $100,000 

 to $500,000. There is one multi-million- 

 aire, Chin Tan Sun, who is the richest 

 Chinaman in the country. Chin Tan Sun 



